Universal Headaches
by Talk With Your Hands
Summary: AU. Sutton is living the average life. That is, until The Avengers suddenly appear out of nowhere! Now she's stuck babysitting them, and Loki, until they can find a way home. It should be easy, right? No problem. That is, unless the government noticed them too. Or if Loki acts on this sudden interest in her, so-called, "potential".
1. Chapter 1

**I write things like this when I'm bored and don't want to think about my real works. So, don't judge it too harshly. Well, actually. Do. I probably deserve it.**

**[Customary disclaimer about not owning things that aren't mine.]**

Sutton did not approve of her friend's drinking habits. She tended not to hang out with him at large gatherings because of it, but he'd needed a ride this time. And they were going to the same place. And if there was one thing she was, darn it, it was environmentally friendly! At the moment, he was leaving against her window and giggling like an idiot. And, really, while he was wearing his zombie Batman costume, was starting to freak her out a little.

"Chase, shut up will you?"

They were getting close to his house and Sutton couldn't wait to shove him into his house and then get home to download her Comic Con pictures. Nerdy? Sure. But it was her thing and she wasn't sorry.

"I can't," Chase slurred in reply. "I am the dead of knight!"

And he burst into another round of drunken giggles. A grown man. Giggling. Sutton rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Whatever."

Chase's porch light came into view and she smiled widely.

"You're almost home, weirdo. Have your house key?"

She was uncertain, but it sounded like he was trying to sing some boy band song while he slapped at his pockets.

A bright light suddenly burst before them and Sutton swerved slightly while squinting from the burning her retinas were doing.

"Freaking people with their brights on."

She stopped in front of Chase's house and told him to get out of her car. The light from before had disappeared, but no car had passed. She shook it off as she stepped out of her car with only a blazer on to protect her from the cold. Then began the process of trying to drag Chase back into his house. Sutton swore she'd never give him a ride anywhere again. Who needed friends anyway? Not like this! Before entering the house, she gave a quick sweep of the street and noticed the silhouette of a group of, costumed?, people. She rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time that day and made sure Chase collapsed on his couch.

_ More comic con hoodlums. _

Bidding her _friend_ a goodnight, and good riddance, she made her way back to her car. She quickened her pace when she noticed that the group was still in the middle of the street, and right in front of her car. In the direction she needed to go home. A couple of the guys were freakishly tall, and she didn't have her mace. With locked doors she pulled forward as far as she could and then honked her horn lightly. The group was finally able to be identified as some people cosplaying as the Avengers. While she appreciated their taste, she didn't really have time for role playing; or whatever they were doing at the moment. Errands were still waiting bright and early tomorrow.

"Hey!" She rolled down her window marginally and poked some of her head out. "Can you guys get out of the way? I'd like to get home tonight."

The entire group turned to face her, but didn't seem too intent on moving.

"Ma'am," one man spoke up. "You really need to leave the area. It's not a safe-"

"Yeah, yeah. You've got big bad Loki to battle, but listen. Take it somewhere else. You can't play in the middle of the street."

"Excuse me?"

For the first time, Sutton noticed a glowing blue orb and she blinked. Finally focusing on the faces around her car visible with the headlights, she couldn't tell if she should be impressed or extremely concerned.

"You guys, uh, seriously did a good job of finding doppelgangers. It's almost...disconcerting."

The one dressed as Loki stood off in the shadows, but she could see his eyes gleaming as they watched her.

"Listen, kid. I don't know if you hit your head or something, but you need to back up and leave the crime fighting to the professionals."

The man dressed like Iron Man's face plate flipped up and Sutton jolted in her seat. It moved! And it was kind of hard _not_ to recognize _the _Robert Downey Jr.

"Are you drunk," she asked.

"Surprisingly, not today."

She was going to call their bluff. She really was. All the words were there to call them fanatics and crazy, or _overcommitted,_ but they all died in her throat. They died because she heard a reverberating grunt, and then _it_ stepped out from the darkness her car lights didn't touch. A tingling sensation ran down her face as it grew cold and she gripped the steering wheel.

"_Holy crap."_

_ "_Yeah."

"HOLY CRAP."

Sutton threw open her door and stumbled out of her car to scurry back around it.

It was the Hulk.

Not, like, a man painted green or some freaky animatronic puppet, but _the Hulk_. She could see his muscles flexing, his grimace as he glanced in her direction, and she could _feel_ his growl as he went back to keeping his eyes on Loki. _Loki._

"You, you guys are-are the Avengers! How the- am _I _drunk?"

"Ma'am," said Captain _freaking_ America. "I'm going to have to ask you to calm down."

"Well isn't _that_ a grand idea!"

This is what she would classify as a _Level Ten Freak Out._ She knew she'd always been saving it for something. Despite it, she didn't miss the look that the assassins shared with each other.

"How do you know about the Avengers?" Hawkeye's fingers were twitching over his bow.

"Huh, good point. I thought we were all part of Fury's top secret boy band. Plus one chick."

Black Widow shot him a glare.

"Where are we, mortal?"

Sutton peeked around her hood to see Thor frowning down at her. Loki was right behind him, so she quickly looked away.

_Not Tom Hiddleston. NOT Tom Hiddleston._

They all seemed to be in consensus on the question, and all seemed to expect an answer.

"Um, Puyallup. Washington. The state, not D.C."

Gosh, she got tired of people always assuming she meant the capital.

The team seemed to be initially shocked, gasps ringing out among them. Then they seemed to mull it over, unanimously come to the conclusion that it was Loki's fault, and brought their attention back to her.

"That still doesn't explain how you know about a secret government program, or why you seem to be wearing earth's current top villain on your shirt."

That comment from Black Widow didn't help her lose the team's interest. Leave it to the girl to notice her fashion choices.

She winced and tried to close her blazer over the tee in question.

_Great. Now even Loki seems intrigued._

"Look," she said while edging toward her car door. "This is hard to explain, I mean, it's crazy. I'm probably insane or going to have traumatic psychological damage from this. Your best course of action is to have Loki teleport you back home. The sooner the better actually."

"Right. Like we're going to trust _him_ with our well being," spat Hawkeye. "Wait. You know this guy?"

Sutton shriveled further next to her car.

"Even if you _begged _for my help, I could do no such thing," Loki spoke up. "Nor would I. The power of the Tesseract has faded from my grasp, _thanks to your stupidity."_

"Brother, now is not the time."

"I am _not_ your _brother._"

"Can we dial down the angst here for a second?" Tony seemed to have decided that the fight had died down, and Sutton watched in awe as his suit folded itself down into a box.

"I didn't know that model did that," she muttered to herself. But Tony quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Kid, can we hurry this conversation along so we can get out of here. Spill. I have things to do. Like Pepper."

Sutton swore she saw Captain America blush.

"Short version?"

"Preferably."

Sutton took a deep breath and straightened her blazer. She brushed off some imaginary lint and fixed her hair. She sighed.

"Well, here, you don't really...exist."

"Come again?"

Tony leaned back on his left leg and crossed his arms; Sutton huffed.

"Look! I don't know if this is some very elaborate and convincing," she glanced at the Hulk, "prank, or what. But you are comic book characters. Actors, icons, whatever. I don't know if you jumped dimensions or something, but I feel like I'm going a little crazy, ok?"

Captain America actually walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder and she could only freeze and stare at him in wonder.

"We're sorry, miss..."

"Sutton."

"Miss Sutton, if this has put pressure on you, but you have to understand were we're coming from too."

"Of course."

She saw Tony roll his eyes skyward and she scowled. The team was either looking at her like she _was_ crazy or mind controlled. She felt her nerves spike.

"You want proof? Ok. Fine."

It would have been the perfect opportunity to roll her shoulders and crack her knuckles, but she refrained. She pointed to each person in turn.

"Pepper saved your first arc reactor and it saved your life, you are good at art and had a date, you tried to kill yourself and failed, _something_ happened in Budapest, you were hit by a car twice, and you're a fro-"

At the look Loki was shooting her she froze.

"Um. You're good at lying."

The group was quiet, each contemplating her statements before Tony piped up.

"Yup. She definitely knows too much."

They finally came to an agreement that the Avengers would not arrest her and hold her for questioning and, in return, she would give them a ride and a place to stay. Sutton felt like she didn't really win in the trade off.

_I should have stuck with Chase. At least he just sleeps._

So, after the Hulk had calmed down enough to revert to (a semi-naked) Bruce Banner, they all crammed into her small SUV and she puttered home.

\\\\\\

**Reviews are beautiful puppy babies that are gifts from above and dipped in chocolate. It is also way too late for me to be online. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to all those who read and added it to their favorites! And the (one) review! Updates might be quick for a little bit and then probably a little slower, since I have a bit written right now. I'm still planning the story out. But if there are people still interested by then, I promise I will continue to work diligently on it!**

**[I don't own Marvel or any actual superheroes.]**

/

It was a tense, awkward drive all the way to her house. And she thanked God that her roommate had just left for a three month backpacking trip in Australia. For a stupid walkabout. To _find herself._ Because her parents were rich and she _could_. Never mind that it was probably a big waste of money. And she hadn't even invited Sutton to go.

Opening the front door, she flicked on the lights and prayed that her house was decent.

_Oh please, oh please, today of all days, I beg you._

The Avengers wandered in after her and Tony had sonar or something, because he found her laptop under her couch pillow in two point three seconds.

"Hey! That's mine!"

"Um, aware of that. Doing some research."

He shooed her away flippantly and Sutton scowled. Swiping her laptop off the coffee table he'd set it on and tucking it under her arm she addressed the team. And kind of Loki.

"Look, I think we've all had a long day. What with defending New York, or failing to take it over," she gestured at the villain. "So I think it'd be best if we all got some sleep and we discussed this more in the morning."

_So much for downloading those pictures._

Thinking, she looked down the short hall.

"You guys are going to have to bunk up."

Tony shot up his arm.

"I call Natasha!"

Sutton could have sworn that he should have burst into flames from the looks he received from both S.H.I.E.L.D agents.

She ended up shoving Thor, Loki, and the noble Steve Rogers in her roommate's bedroom, Clint and Natasha in her room, and then Tony and Bruce on the couches. Because they were shorter and they could handle it. Sutton built herself a bed in the bathtub in their one bathroom. The door had a lock on it, and she hoarded away her laptop and DVD collection for safe keeping.

Curling up on top the sleeping bag she'd found, she rested her head on her small decorative pillow. With a moment alone just to breath she felt the panic sink in. Her head spun and her stomach sank, and she felt as if she might be sick. Clammy hands ran up and down her scratchy jeans.

"Oh God," she prayed. "I don't even know what's going on. What is this? How? Holy crap, they're in my _house._ They're real. They could dig through my laundry or judge my book collection. Oh no, oh no, oh no."

She lightly bit on her fist to stop the stream of word vomit.

"One day at at time; _one day at a time._"

Sutton awoke to instrumentals at 7:30am and groped to find her phone. She fumbled to turn it off while flopping out of the tub like some drunken fish and blearily stared around the bathroom. She needed coffee. Her mind felt thick and slow, what was she-

_My laptop! My DVDs! They're gone!_

She was a mess of limbs then, struggling to pull herself up to a standing position with some dignity.

Everyone was already awake. Everyone was already awake and in her living room!

"Hey!"

She had everyone's attention and she was sure that her hair and day old clothes looked marvelous.

"That door was _locked!_"

Everyone seemed unapologetic besides Thor who looked slightly chagrined, and Steve bowed his head as if she'd shamed him. Bruce actually shot her a cheeky smirk that took her back a bit.

"We have two master assassins, a super soldier, a god, and men of science. I think we could figure out how to jimmy open a push lock."

Tony held up his hand for a high-five.

"And you sleep like the dead," added Hawkeye.

"You should be thanking me anyway," the billionaire cut in. "I got you faster internet and better security. You know that _invalid_ is, like, the worst password ever, right?"

"It is the principle of it! Locked doors mean stay out and- and I'm just wasting my breath."

A bit amusedly she noticed that there were already half eaten bowls of cereal and plates of food scattered about her coffee table.

"Hey, guys, you hungry? No really, help yourself."

They all ignored her and Natasha picked up one of her DVDs between two fingers to hold up at her eye level.

"Care to explain these?"

Sutton groaned and tried to smooth out her hair. Someone had laid out every super hero Marvel movie she owned. Which was all of them. Natasha was currently scrutinizing one with a glossy '_A_' on it.

"Not really," she said. "But I don't think you'll take that as an answer."

"She's catching on," said Clint.

Looking down at her own ruffled appearance she sighed melodramatically. Time to stall.

"Can you all at least wait until I've rinsed off and put on clothes that I haven't slept in?"

Clint suddenly was wearing his scary face.

"Yeah. We've all just been kind of fighting a _horde_ of _aliens_ and slept in our suits, so..."

"We can _all_ take showers, ok! And, no," she pointed at Tony. "_Not together._"

Somehow, they all got through showers without too much fuss. Nobody complained too much when the water went cold. Just a couple of initial shrieks from the unlucky party. Sutton was relieved to find herself in a clean pair of jeans and an _unsuspicious _t-shirt. The rest of the team had to make do with what she could find. Natasha was able to wear something of hers ok, but she really had to struggle for the guys. Luckily, the two Asgardians refused to change anyway, and her roommate's boyfriend had left behind a drawer full of clothes. She never thought she'd be grateful for that. Although, Steve did look kind of funny in high water jeans.

Before any more drama could ensue, Sutton made sure to grab herself a cup of coffee and a bagel. People tended not to like her when she was _hangry._

They all regathered in her living room and piled onto her couches, leaving a large birth for Loki while she stood beside her TV.

"Ok, look. As I mentioned yesterday, alternate universe, or whatever. Here, you guys are superhero movies. I can't say how accurate they are for you, but I can't let you guys watch them. We need to be focusing on how to get you home, right? So, instead of interrogating _Sutton,_ how about we try interrogating _Loki._"

"Mortal," Loki snarled, but Steve interrupted him.

"I agree with you about getting us home, miss. But we also need information about where we are to help us do that."

"I'm the star of all this, right? I mean, I have the most movies already."

Sutton glowered as they all began to throw in their two cents.

"I get that you all are curious, really!" She spoke over them. "But it could destroy space-time or mess up your future or something! I'm sorry. It's just not going to happen. And that's that!"

Apparently, if you tried to tell superheros that they couldn't do something, they just pinned you to the couch and did it anyway. She was wedged between Clint and Natasha, and it wasn't exactly making her feel warm and fuzzy. For the first time ever, she sat through The Avengers frowning and sulky. Oh, she had laughed slightly at the appropriate moments at first, but at the glares she received she quickly shut it up. She hoped that they were all _thoroughly_ embarrassed at having their more private scenes watched. They deserved it.

Only Coulson's death scene came up and then she felt terrible. Had Clint and Bruce even known? Their pale faces said that they hadn't. She couldn't tell them that he was fine. She couldn't, shouldn't, would not. Sutton sank down in her seat and shot Loki a glare. He smirked at her.

The moment the credits started, Sutton shot up off the couch and attempted to dash for the DVD player.

"Ok, it's over!"

Her plans were foiled as Clint snagged the back belt loop of her jeans and yanked her back down.

"What's the rush? Let's just enjoy the credits. I like this music."

Clint's brow shot up and he wore a half smirk. The other Avengers looked at her almost knowingly. They had to know. Sutton dropped her head down and sighed.

"You already know about the after credits scene, don't you?"

Clint's smirk broke out into a smile, but his eyes were still dark. Sutton would tell him to go back to bed if she didn't feel her face heating up.

"Nope. But we do now. _Thank you, for your cooperation_."

Sutton shoved herself back into the couch and made an angry gurgling noise in the back of her throat.

"Curse you, S.H.I.E.L.D!"

Thanos was not a welcome sight for anyone, even if they weren't exactly sure who he was.

"Who the heck was the space god-father? He doesn't give me the warm fuzzies."

"You think," snapped Steve. "He's an associate of Loki's. Of course he's going to be bad."

"Let me guess," deadpanned Natasha. "The villain for our sequel?"

Sutton felt suddenly very somber. Superhero movies weren't as fun if they were _real._

_People can __die__, man!_

"He's worse than Loki, actually," she said.

The room collectively groaned, but Loki was still. He suddenly looked less threatening.

"Of course he is," said Bruce. "Why not?"

Tony stretched out his fingers as if about to do some hardcore Googling.

"Let's wikipedia the crap out of this guy."

Sutton sighed and rolled her head onto her right palm.

"And this is where we mess up the space-time continuum."

"Or improve it," quipped Tony. "I'm not too keen on fighting some intergalactic gangster."

"You're _not_ going to _like_ what you _find_," sang Sutton. A thought came to her suddenly and she paled, turning to Loki.

"He can't, like, jump dimensions too, can he? He can't follow you here?"

Loki lifted one elegant brow and shrugged. If she hadn't already been recovering from a Tom Hiddleston addiction, she might have softened.

_Remember your steps! Step one. Acknowledge he is a handsome man and move on..._

"I know not," he said. "And if I did, I would not share the information with a _mortal_ like yourself."

"You better hope he can't," she shot back. "Because I can't imagine he'd be too pleased with you either!"

Steve cut in and ended anything before it began.

"Let's just focus on the task at hand. What makes this guy so bad? Can you tell us that?"

Sutton shrugged and gestured toward and enthralled Tony.

"He'll probably know just as much as me or more in a minute. I'm not a super big comic book geek; don't have the funds. All I know is that Thanos is always trying to hit on Death and is basically unbeatable."

"_Hit on_," questioned Thor.

"Like, woo her," Sutton explained. "He's got a mega crush on her and tries to impress her by destroying planets. Hence the smirk when The Other mentioned courting death."

"That would be good information to have." Natasha did not look amused by Sutton's unenthusiastic sharing. Sutton supposed she couldn't blame her.

"Look," Sutton sighed. "I'm not trying to screw you guys over or anything. It's just, if you know things you aren't supposed to then it's going to change the decisions you make later. You can't know if that's good or bad."

Thor spoke up then and suddenly seemed more solemn and wise than she'd ever remembered seeing him.

"Still, Lady Sutton, however my brother brought us here, your world must have knowledge of us for a reason. Mayhaps we were meant to glean something from you and your world."

"I second Thor," said Clint. "The more intel we have the better."

Tony nodded but it seemed as if it were to himself.

"Point Break and Legolas have a point. Especially if we're going to have to battle a giant purple behemoth who is _literally _unbeatable. Oh look, we turn him to stone once. Doesn't seem to seem to have lasted. And he..._kills us_ once? Yeah, slightly _uncool."_

The room began to raise in alarm and volume at that and Sutton face palmed. The one day she got off without taking leave and she was getting a migraine. She raised her head up slowly to see the team bickering amongst each other not unlike in the helicarrier scene in the film. Her eyes flitted to Loki and she found him observing the group with a small, cold smirk growing on his face. She couldn't let this go on. They _had_ to go home. _HE _needed to go home.

"Ok! Enough!"

The room quieted at her outburst and she stood up from the couch.

"This is what I'm talking about. You don't know what's going to happen with all this. Heck, _I _don't even know. They could take it in a hundred different directions, but now you're all panicked. And, and, ugh!" She sat back down and aggressively began rubbing her temples. "You aren't even supposed to exist," she muttered.  
The room was still. Steve blinked. Tony lifted an eyebrow.

"Who's not to say you just don't have people who can see into our dimension and copy it?"

Her face became deadpan.

"This movie came out close to a year ago. And you all just zapped here from New York. Care to guess again, Mr. IQ?"

Tony sneered at the nickname, but she elicited smirks from everyone else. Her gaze drifted over everyone but froze over Loki. He wasn't cuffed or muzzled and the look of some dawning realization was creeping across his face. Sutton eyed him suspiciously as long as she dared before her stomach grew cold, and she turned back to the group.

Natasha crossed one perfect leg delicately over the other and gestured toward Sutton.

"As much as I'm all for intel, she has a point. We need to focus on figuring out a way home. Fury is probably having a fit and it'd be nice to send _that one_ home."

Loki stiffened at her flippancy and Clint nodded.

"Tasha's right. How about the science bros get at it then. You can try building a Star Gate with her toaster or something."

"Science bros?" Sutton suddenly perked up. "Did you look that up?"

"Uh, no."

"Oh, well, it's just a thing."

"A thing?" Steve leaned forward in his seat.

"Yeah," Sutton brushed it off. "Just whatever you do, don't look up _superhusbands_. Trust me on this."

Sutton was sure she'd never seen a man blush so brilliantly. It was absolutely adorable.

"Ok," interrupted Bruce. "Can we get back on task. Again?"

Bruce and Tony shuffled and strutted into her kitchen to discuss science and thermo-whatevers. Sutton was contemplating googling some of those words later. If she could remember them. The two assassins took control of her laptop, so she chose to let it go. She'd rather keep all her fingers. That left America's mascot and the two extraterrestrials to entertain. Sutton took a deep breath and exhaled.

/

**Thanks for reading! Reviews are welcome! (Even if you just want to say "meh").**


	3. Chapter 3

**Ok, here's the third chapter! I just typed it all out, so hopefully there are no grammar errors. Thanks you to everyone who has been reading, I really appreciate it! And if you ever see an error, or think a character would react differently to a situation or line, let me know! I'm trying to keep them all canon, for the most part. **

**[Once again, I own nothing.]**

/

"I'm sorry," she said addressing Steve, "if I'm being terrible. I just don't really know what I'm doing."

"You're doing just fine," Steve assured her. "You're going through a lot, I'm sure. I thought it was bad enough waking up in the future."

Sutton smiled grimly.

"I bet."

Her attention turned then to Thor. He kept a grip on his hammer and a disapproving look on his brother.

"Hey, Thor, do you know anything about alternate dimensions? I mean, with you being from another planet and all. Has this ever happened before?"

Thor turned to her and shook his golden head sadly. She wondered briefly what kind of shampoo he used.

"I am afraid not, Lady Sutton. I have only ever known of the nine realms, and then the Chitauri. If anyone would have answers, I believe it would be my brother. But I am afraid that he may not be forthcoming."

All three turned to Loki for confirmation and he grinned maliciously at them.

"You would be correct, for once."

It really wasn't fair that he had the voice of Tom Hiddleston.

"Hey!" Clint was suddenly animated behind the computer. "Actor me is still awesome! He likes guns." He peered closer at the screen as if scrutinizing something. "Tasha, is that really my resting face?"

"Yes."

"Good."

Sutton was forced to go to the store in the afternoon. They all needed suitable clothes, and personal hygiene products, and food. A lot more food. Like, all her paycheck was going towards groceries. As if she weren't poor enough already. But she couldn't quite just drag them all with her to Wal Mart. _That _would go over _so_ well. None the less she needed help, so she brought along the two master assassins. Because if anyone had to be stealth, she could count on them. She did as much as she could to disguise them; forcing Natasha into an oversized sweat shirt and both of them into ball caps, but she was still nervous.

The trip was sped through, but Sutton swore that they still got stares. The last thing she needed was paparazzi flashing cameras for tabloids, shouting, "THEY'RE JUST LIKE US!" Natasha and Clint helped her with clothing sizes and with pushing the cart and Sutton was like a drill sergeant with time. She rushed them home whether they'd been discovered or not, and hoped her house was still standing when she got there.

Luckily, it was. It was a bit suspicious that Loki had been on his best behavior so far. Not that she wasn't grateful for it; it just seemed...out of character.

_Oh well, _she thought. _It's not like I don't have an entire house of super heroes to help me out if I need it._

And the rest of the evening was quiet. Bruce and Tony were neck deep in calculations she'd never understand and everyone else seemed like they were trying to cope with their current situation. This didn't feel like how she'd have expected it to go in her imagination. She should be jumping up and down and drooling over them, but also winning them over to love her because of her adorable wit and charm. This would be the time that any single male Avenger fell madly in love with her and Loki softened up and rediscovered his good side. Right? Wasn't that how these things went? But no. Everyone was doing their own thing, _in her house, _and just ignoring her in general. She felt gipped.

Sutton decided to busy herself with setting up the small air mattress that she'd bought instead of dwelling on her disappointed imagination. She grinned widely to herself as she was able to shove the mattress into her tub.

"Sweet!"

She was arranging her blankets over top when a shadow filled the doorway. Her spine tingled.

"Miss Sutton?"

"Oh geez! Chri- Capt- er, Steve! Hey, what's up?"

Steve eyed her makeshift bed almost guiltily. Sutton could see his jaw clench while he thought. It was a nice jaw.

"You shouldn't have to sleep in here again," he said. "You're already letting us stay in your home and eat your food."

Sutton stood up and straightened her back while brushing off his concerns.

"Oh, it's no big deal. I don't mind. Besides, I've gotten to meet all of you! For real! No one else can say that."

Steve still frowned. It was cute.

"It still isn't right that we're putting you out, ma'am."

"It's just Sutton," she corrected. "And I _really_ don't mind. I actually prefer it. I have a door and it locks, even if you can all open it. I mean, not that I don't trust you guys-"

She floundered to recover, but Steve just nodded.

"No. I understand. It makes sense. You don't know us, and _Loki_ is here. I just wanted to make sure we weren't taking advantage of your hospitality."

If she remembered correctly, they'd told her that she was going to house them or face arrest, but she still grinned at his chivalry.

"You're a great man, Steve. Don't let anyone ever convince you that being a gentleman is a bad thing. We need more of that."

Steve blushed again.

"Never, ma- Sutton."

"Well then. Want to help me make some dinner?"

They needed more food than one person could handle on their own.

The next morning came too early. Sutton blearily pulled on her work skirt and blouse, finished her bathroom routine, and tip-toed out to the living room. Bruce was still sleeping but the other couch was mussed and empty. Upon entering the kitchen she found the person in question. There were papers scattered all over her counter and a pot of coffee already brewed in the corner. Sutton gave Tony a silent nod and poured herself a cup. With an acceptable amount of creamer in it, she took a long drag and sighed happily.

"Do you ever sleep?"

Tony looked up from his calculations and gave her a grin.

"I got a few hours. Why? Worried about my beauty sleep? Don't worry, I don't really need it."

Sutton rolled her eyes.

"I just can't understand morning people. Or," she waved her hand in a circular motion, "all-nighters either, I guess."

Tony shrugged.

"Research isn't going to do itself. Besides, it's not like I had better things to do."

Sutton gestured to the paperwork with her mug free hand.

"Have you gotten anywhere with it?"

"You know, I invited it to dinner, but it's been playing hard to get."

Sutton laughed lightly, still conscious of the other people sleeping. Or at least just not out and about.

"I forgot that it doesn't turn off."

Sparing a quick glance at her watch, she straightened up from the counter.

"I have to go to work. But I feel weird leaving..."

"We're adults, kid. We'll be fine. No trouble from us, scouts honor."

Sutton sighed.

"Uh-huh. Ok. Well, if you're all gone when I get back I'm going to assume you made it home."

Tony snorted while scratching more numbers on his paper.

"I may be a genius, but I'm not a miracle worker."

Sutton moved out of the kitchen and grabbed her car keys with a backwards shrug.

"I don't know. You did create a mini arc reactor first try."

Tony looked up sharply as if surprised by the praise. A grin grew on his face.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were enabling me."

She poked her head back in the house from were she stood in the doorway.

"Then I'll try not to stroke your ego too much. Pepper wouldn't approve."

Work was oddly normal. Mundane. But it didn't feel like it. It felt new. Sutton walked into the office biting her lip and feeling bubbly. It was as if everyone would know what happened just by looking at her. No one said anything about it, of course; but when Jen, a fellow secretary, smiled with a _hello_, Sutton grinned nervously back.

"Hey, Jen. Did I miss anything while I was gone?"

Jen rolled her eyes good-naturedly and flicked back her blonde hair.

"Ugh. No. Not unless you count Randy almost getting into another fight news. What about you? Have a good couple of days off? How was comic con?"

Sutton tried not to flinch in her seat or sweat.

"Oh, it was good. Pretty normal stuff," she lied. "Chase was a jerk and got drunk though."  
Jen _tsked_ behind her teeth, crossing one sturdy leg over the other.

"Well, welcome back to crappy pay and a go-nowhere position. I missed my partner-in-depression."

Sutton laughed but looked around, scandalized.

"Jen! Shh!"

Her bold friend just shrugged and began typing away again.

"It's not like it's a secret."

With a roll of her eyes, Sutton began her work as well.

It was eight, mind-melting hours later that she finally made it home. Sanctuary? Pulling up in front of her house, she took a moment to breathe and appreciate that it was still standing. After all, it was a rental. Rummaging through her purse, she pulled out a clip and clamped her brown curls to the back of her head.

"It's show time."

An explosion that rocked her frame welcomed her as she walked through the door. Sutton jumped, her eyes flying to the living room as she tried to identify what had made the noise. Her television was on and a few of the teammates were watching 'Captain America'. She breathed with a hand to her chest and glared. She should have guessed.

"The volume doesn't have to be quite so loud," she suggested, but no one heard her.

She sighed again and then got a good look at her house. Someone had pushed the couches back a few feet and there were blankets and food wrappers strewn about. The pop tarts she'd just bought had been found and demolished.

Shrugging off her purse and dropping it to the floor, Sutton began to try and tidy up a little. Bruce and Tony were still surrounded by equations and scientific nonsense when she shuffled into the kitchen with the trash. She mumbled out,

"_Lucy, I'm home."_

Bruce looked up and smiled sheepishly when he noticed the clutter.

"Sorry, we haven't done a good job of watching the kids."

Sutton appreciated his dry humor and relaxed a bit.

"Hey, you wouldn't mind if we disassembled a few of your lesser used electronics, would you?"

Sutton's eyes flew over to Tony where he fiddled with her toaster, and then examined the rest of her counter tops.

"What did you destroy?"

Tony put down the toaster and held up his hands in surrender. Sutton snatched up the toaster and cradled it against her breast.

"Hey, nothing. Yet. But you can't expect us to get home without some tech, can you? Speaking of, do you know if this universe has any portable thermo-"

"Probably not," Sutton cut in. She placed the toaster carefully back down in its designated corner. "And if you trash any of my stuff, I expect it to be replaced. I'm poor enough as it is."

"See, Bruce. It's always the plebeians that are the most materialistic."

Tony shook his head sadly; Bruce gave a small smile but remained quiet. Sutton rolled her eyes.

"To think I ever complimented you," she said. "And I'm sorry if I don't have enough money to rebuild and remodel my entire house every time I trash it in a robot brawl or it gets blown up."

Tony's head shot up.

"My house hasn't ever been blown up."

Sutton started and then flushed.

"Oh, you know what! I need to get changed!"

"HEY."

Sutton scurried off to her room, which was gloriously empty, and slammed the door closed. It was nice to be able to breathe. She was really not good at the having company bit. Or the keeping her mouth shut bit either. Sliding out of her skirt and blouse, she pulled on a more comfortable pair of jeans and t-shirt. Sitting on her bed for a moment, she let her eyes close and released her hair from its confines. Her fingers dug into her skull as she tried to ward off a headache before it happened.

_Don't stress. No reason to stress. You are fine. Follow mom's advice and 'suck it up'._

"An irritating lot, are they not? I'm sure, now, you may better understand my plight."

Sutton shot off her bed with a short, piercing screech and spun towards her bedroom door. Loki stood blocking it. Just Loki.

/

**Dun dun dun! Thanks for reading! If you really like it, you could review! Maybe! Just a suggestion! If you really, _really liked it..._you could tell your friends!**


	4. Chapter 4

**First of all, a huge thanks to all the lovely people who have left comments! They make me feel all bubbly inside. **

**Secondly, I feel like this chapter is still kind of a filler, but it has some information that I'm building up for later. And, if I'm honest I'm (spoiler!) writing with a sequel in mind where things from this story will play out. So you might have to wait for certain...events and reveals. Hope you don't mind. **

**But, anyway, enjoy chapter four! Let me know what you think and/or what you think I could improve!**

**/**

She could feel her heart step up its tempo.

_Tha-thump, tha-thump, this is where you die, tha-thump, tha-thump._

"Mmm," she hummed in terrified agreement. "Well, I should probably go. Make sure they're not...breaking stuff."

She took two shuffling steps forward, but Loki didn't move so she was forced to stop.

"Why leave so soon? I don't believe we've had a chance to converse, mortal."

Sutton waved off the comment, trying to breath in quietly through her nose.

"That's ok! You don't need to worry about it, I'm fine. I should just go make dinner."

"How domestic."

Her face suddenly grew hot.

"Hey! Just because I-"

But at the sight of his pleased face she realized he was goading her and stopped. Her shoulders drooped and she gave a resigned sigh.

"What do you want, Loki? And I don't think I need to remind you that there's a gang of superheroes in my living room."

Loki scoffed at her not-so-subtle threat.

"Your _heroes_ do not concern me at the moment. Come now, let's have a chat."

He gestured for her to have a seat on her own bed. Sutton peered around him at the door.

"If you call out, they will not hear you."

Sutton frowned and swallowed thickly. Finding no other option, she eased over to her mattress and sat down stiffly.

"Now, that wasn't so hard."

She kept her eyes trained straight at the wall; spine erect.

"What is this about? I have nothing you could want."

Loki cocked his head to the side in her peripheral vision, eyebrow raising and a small smirk on his face.

"Oh, I doubt that." Involuntarily Sutton's heart fluttered. "But do not worry. I have not come to collect. Not yet. I simply want to..._confirm_ a theory."

Sutton couldn't help but shoot a glance at him.

"And what theory would that be?" Her voice came out a bit more wobbly than she'd hoped. Loki _tsked_ at her.

"Not yet, not yet. Now just hold still and you will not be harmed."

"What!"

But he was quick, and before she could resist he was right before her. Closer than she would ever be comfortable with. He took the first two fingers of his right hand and placed them to the center of her forehead. And Sutton could not move. An electric pulse had run down her spine, gripping it tightly, and she was paralyzed. She let out a quiet gasp as she tried to escape his pull. It felt like he was _pulling_ something from her. Or searching for something. But no matter how hard she tried she still couldn't move away. Finally, his face broke out in a maniacal grin and he stepped back. Sutton let out a ragged breath and shoved herself off the bed and away from him.

"What did you do?"

"I found what I was looking for," he said curtly.

"And what would that be?"

Loki gave her a savage smile.

"Potential."

The word did not sit well with Sutton, nor did the promise. The room was too small. She was finally able to weasel around the villain and dashed for the door. Loki did not move to stop her.

"Just stay away from me!"

She did not look behind her to see his reaction. She needed to get back out to the living room; with other people. It was with frazzled nerves and a disheveled attitude that she burst into the living room from the hallway. Those who had been watching the movie suddenly paid her mind upon seeing her flushed face and darting eyes roving about the furniture. Sutton found Loki's figure standing in the corner and she quickly looked back down the hall as if that would confirm anything.

"Are you ok?"

Steve stood up first and the others were scrutinizing her thoroughly. Sutton felt the heat rise up into her face. Forcefully, she pointed a finger at the guilty party.

"I'm fine. Just make sure _he_ keeps his hands to himself!"

The group was very suddenly, collectively, on edge. Even Tony and Bruce took a break from their science to investigate. Thor visibly stiffened the most.

"Did he hurt you, Lady Sutton?"

Sutton felt herself deflate at his broken, desperate tone. Loki did not seem to mind that she had outed him.

"No," she said. "Just messing with me."

Loki cooed.

"Oh, but you did seem so fond of me before."

Sutton's red deepened.

"And you were fond of that horse, but no one says anything about that! Besides, I'm a geek, not a psychopath. You're not a good person, as of late."

Those who did understand her horse jab guffawed, but Loki did not look amused.

"Excuse me? Are you referring to your people's pathetic and vile campfire-"

"Ok, enough!"

Natasha stepped out gathering everyone's attention and shot them all a fierce glare.

"We can't let ourselves disband again. Especially not now." Steve nodded.

"She's right. We need to maintain focus. And Thor, you need to keep a closer eye on your brother. We can't have him out loose in this world."

Thor's hand clenched around his hammer until the knuckles rivaled bone. He shot his brother a weary pleading look but it had no visible effect.

"I will," was all he ground out.

Sutton heaved out a heavy, shaky sigh and then shook herself loose.

_Move on, change the subject. Too serious, too much, too much._

"Ok, so, any break throughs," she asked the science team.

Tony and Bruce both looked at each other before Tony gestured for Bruce to have a go. The man sighed and swallowed before taking off his glaces and rubbing his eyes.

"Not much," he said. "All we have to work with, really, is theoretical science. Some String Theory. It gets all..._wonky_ when you try to put math to it."

The room grew a bit cooler before Tony stepped up and threw an arm around his friend.

"But no worries. I mean, after all, we are the dream team. And I'm pretty sure Fury can rip a hole through time and space with his rage if we're gone for too long."

Sutton could actually see that happening. She sat in the corner of the far couch as everyone dissipated and tried to think. There had to be a way to help them. Like she could even be of help. Right. Her car ran off magic and gasoline as far as she was concerned. She wouldn't even know where to- Wait a second!

Jumping off the couch she hopped over to the kitchen and pushed herself between Bruce and Tony. Not that she noticed that she was jammed between Iron Man or the Hulk or anything.

"Hey! I had an idea!"

"Oh lord."

Bruce glanced up at Tony verging on reproach and then back to her.

"Yeah?"

_Oh this was good. Brilliant even._

"Have you tried looking at any comic books?"

"Excuse me?"

Sutton rolled her eyes and used exaggerated hand gestures to further explain.

"There have been comics where people visit alternate dimensions or parallel universes and if you all use the same comic book science, maybe you can get some info from it."

Tony and Bruce were quiet as they considered her words.

"I mean, feasibly, we might-"

"It's _not_ comic book science. It's _science._"

Sutton was a bit taken back by how agitated Tony's voice suddenly sounded.

"Yeah, ok," she said.

"Just because your sad little dimension can't figure out how to make it work doesn't mean it's not legitimate. We're not just comic book characters."

Sutton held her hands up in surrender; she felt scolded.

"Noted." She gave an awkward laugh and turned back to Bruce. "So, um, do you think it could help?"

Bruce was a bit hunched as he rubbed his shoulder.

"_Maybe._ I'd be surprised if there was anything we could use, but anything is worth a shot if we can gain access to it."

Sutton panned back over to Tony a bit slowly. He had one brow raised at her and arms crossed. There would not be any apologies coming from her!

"Should _I_ start Googling stuff, or do you have some sort of algorithm for key phrases?"

Tony waved her off and snorted.

"I'll take care of it, kid. You wouldn't know what to look for anyway."

Sutton rolled her eyes and swiveled around.

There was an still the empty spot on her couch. One glorious, padded seat left. She sank into it. Work didn't seem as much of a chore as this did, and that was saying something.

Thor was keeping a steady eye on Loki as if he hadn't already been before and she was glad. She tried not to think about what Loki said. What it might mean. Sutton pulled her knees up to her chin and rested her head on them. She shuddered and tried to plan for tomorrow. Work, of course. Then what? Errands? Did Radio Shack having anything useful for portals? How weird would that be to ask?

Her phone suddenly went off blasting _Skillet_. Sutton scrambled up to get it just in case one of her new _friends _tried to answer it. Usually she'd just let it go to voicemail.

"Hello?"

"Sutton? What the heck happened the other night?"

Sutton groaned as she sank back down into her seat.

"Chase. You were drunk beyond reason, _that's_ what happened."

"No, no, no," her friend argued. "After that. Are you trying to punk me or something?"

"What are you talking about? I dropped you off on your couch like a nice person."

"_The next day._ Some guys in suits came by and were asking if I'd seen anything odd, but wouldn't explain anything."

Sutton felt herself become instantly covered in a layer of sweat.

"Wha-what? Seriously? Chase? What did they say? What did you tell them?"

Her frantic tone drew in attention, yet again, even Chase noticed it a bit.

"It's ok, I'm fine. I just told them I hadn't seen anything, maybe you had, and they left. They just wouldn't answer _my_ questions. I felt like they were FBI spies or something."

"YOU WHAT."

Sutton choked, coughed, and tried to lighten her voice. It was tight, strained.

"I mean, ha, yeah. So weird. Are you sure you weren't still drunk?"

_Please tell me that you were still drunk. Please, please, please._

"No! Don't be jealous that I now have an awesome spy story."

Sutton scoffed lightly while wiping her hands on her jeans.

"Yeah, well, as much as I like a good spy story, I better go. Work wiped me out and I still haven't made dinner yet."

"Yeah, ok. Fine. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, Chase."

The second Sutton hit the _end call_ button she flew out of her seat and flailed while jumping in a circle.

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!"

Everyone besides the science bros, who weren't paying attention, looked concerned. Well, Loki looked more disgusted than concerned.

"What's wrong? What happened," asked Steve.

Sutton pulled at her hair and bit her lip.

"Some government thugs came by Chase's house! They were asking if he saw anything weird _the night that you guys poofed here!_"

Clint and Natasha looked at each other and then back at her wearing faces of slight concern.

"Was he sure," asked Clint. "You said he was drunk."

Sutton was looking off into space and giving herself an ulcer.

"He seemed sure. And he told them to talk to me! _Me._ They're going to come here and think I kidnapped you or cloned you or something. And I'll end up in a secret government prison and you'll all end up in a lab somewhere underground in North Dakota!"

Natasha shot her partner a look and gestured towards Sutton. Clint looked confused and shrugged. Natasha rolled her eyes and Steve stepped up to the plate and sat down next to Sutton. He awkwardly lifted an arm as if to put it around her shoulders, but then dropped it and looked off to the side.

"Hey, it's ok. Everything will be fine. No one is going anywhere."

The words did not help comfort Sutton. Captain America was an optimist. That was his thing. He was supposed to look on the bright side even if there wasn't one. He was the moral booster. The confident leader. But that wasn't how the real world worked. At least, not _Sutton's_ real world. Here, the bad guys could win. They often did. And maybe now she'd be the weird story on the news of the disappeared young woman who everyone pitied for five seconds before moving on with their life.

She clutched her elbows and closed her eyes while trying to breath.

"Just lie," said Natasha bluntly. "Tell them you didn't see anything and move on."

And, _oh,_ wasn't that just a _fabulous_ idea.

"That would work out wonderfully if I could actually lie to save my life. And what if you guys give off some sort of weird electron energy or something? Like you two." She pointed towards the two extraterrestrials. Thor looked scandalized. He might as well have put a hand daintily to his chest and gasped, _"me?"_

"They could have spectrometers with them or dogs or those things from Men in Black."

"Ok, just calm down," said Clint. He looked done with the whole situation. "We have more pressing issues to deal with than some potential government officials. I think we could easily take care of them if need be. Pull yourself together, kid."

Why did everyone keep calling her _kid?_

"I am an adult, thank you."

"Then act like it."

Sutton paused. She breathed. She blushed. The room was quiet as Sutton pulled herself together and as the science team decided to join them to find out what all the hullabaloo was about. Clint was right and she was mad at him for it. So, she needed to stop freaking out. Like that was easy. She wasn't a trained S.H.I.E.L.D agent. She was ordinary. God forbid she have a panic attack. How many panic attacks _had_ she had in the last two days? So, nothing had happened yet? '_Yet'_ was the key word.

_Nothing has happened and you are still alive. If you can survive Loki, you can survive a couple of guys in suits._

What was it that her mom had always said? _'Be what you're longing for'. Be strength, be bravery, be a good friend. _

Sutton looked back up at the group of conversing characters and couldn't find words. The Avengers were in her living room. Regardless of Loki, or his ambitions, she had a capable group of people surrounding her to back her up. What could go wrong? Nothing. Perhaps Steve was right. Everything was going to be fine.

**/**

**R & R! You have no idea how happy you people make me! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Ok! Hi, guys! Sorry it's been a little bit. My excuse is that I just started a second job and am now working 65 hour work weeks. As you can imagine, that leaves me little time to sit down and write. But don't worry, I am still going to be working on this story! It just might be a bit longer between updates. This chapter was written a bit quickly, but I wanted to get something out there. **

**Reviews and suggestions are welcomed! Thanks for reading!**

**/**

Sutton had finally gotten around to making dinner, and the government henchmen still hadn't shown. She relaxed after that, deciding that arriving after dinner hours would be totally rude so they wouldn't do it. Shouldn't, couldn't, right? Maybe if she put up a 'No Soliciting' sign she could have an excuse to not open the door.

She was just going to have to resign herself to the fact that she probably wasn't going to ever get to use her computer again. Usually after work, she'd let herself have an hour or two to just mindlessly surf the web, but no more. No; they might as well have stuck a S.H.I.E.L.D sticker over the logo, or maybe an arc reactor since it glowed. It just felt weird in her own home. Did she ignore them, as they were currently doing to her? Or did she try to connect? Could she force them to love her and become the greatly dreaded Mary-Sue that was so popular? Oh, gosh. She was a Mary-Sue, wasn't she? Oh no, oh no, oh no! No! She couldn't be. Nobody was in love with her yet, right? There had been no eye-molesting by any party, and she didn't have five first names. She had to be safe.

There was a clattering in her kitchen that turned her head, and she looked over cautiously, afraid of what she'd see.

"It's all good," came Tony's voice. "But it'd be easier if you actually owned a screwdriver."

Sutton sat up straighter.

"What did you-"

"Don't worry, it's just the toaster. I haven't even seen you use it."

She only groaned and fell back into her seat. It was too late to save it and too late to care anyway. Her eyes flickered over to her computer once again that was being dominated by the S.H.I.E.L.D agents.

"I hope you're encrypting your searches," she commented a bit tightly. "Because I don't know what it's like in your universe, but the government here sees everything."

Natasha and Clint both just rolled their heads to the side and shot her a droll look before going back to their research. There suddenly popped up what looked suspiciously to be a government database, and Sutton swallowed her tongue and looked away. It was better if she didn't know, she decided.

It seemed like it always came down to the Captain and Asgardians being left out and she wondered why that was. Right now, the two blondes were investigating the mechanics of her DVD player. Loki sat idly with a book; was that her _human psychology and mental illnesses_ book? Probably not good.

"Hey! It lit up!"

Her attention was drawn back in by Steve's triumphant cry, and she couldn't help but grin. He had found out how to turn it on and open the slot for the DVDs. Thor gave him a hearty thump on the back.

"Well done, friend!"

Oh gosh. She should be filming this. Was there a way that she could pretend she'd edited it together? Tumblr would be hers to rule entirely if she could get this online. They'd make gifs about _her_ in her honor!

Her small laugh garnered the brief attention of Loki, she noted. Though he looked more irritated by the two's delve into technology than anything. She made sure to purposefully ignore him.

Steve turned around to see what she'd found amusing and when he realized her gaze was on him, he blushed and ducked his head.

"I haven't had much time or...desire to mess with any of this stuff yet," he tried to explain.

Sutton gave him a grin and then joined the two at the TV set.

"No, it's fine. You just don't see- ...people now days take technology for granted, I think. What are you trying to do anyway?"

Steve took the _Captain America_ DVD out and was trying to put it back in it's case.

"Just trying to clean up, mi- Sutton. And I, I'd really rather not watch it again."

Sutton sobered a bit and looked away guiltily.

"That's understandable," she said.

"Rest easy, Captain," Thor tried to comfort. "You are among friends here."

Steve looked even more embarrassed, so Sutton attempted to change the subject.

"Don't worry about it, Cap," she said. "We'll get you both all caught up on _good _pop culture. Star Wars, some rock and roll, maybe a little bit of Harry Potter. And I swear to protect you from all things Jersey Shore or MTV in general."

Thor looked more confused at her words than Steve did.

"What is this _Jersey Shore_ we need to be defended from?"

Sutton sighed dramatically.

"Only the lowest that humanity has to offer," she explained. "If they were the shining example of human nature and ability, we would deserve to be ruled by Loki."

Loki's head snapped up from the book as he shot her an unappreciative glower. Sutton tapped her chin in mock thought.

"On second thought," she mused, "maybe you should just give Jersey to Loki to rule. He might actually do it some good."

That earned her a death glare.

"Lady Sutton, you do not understand. My brother would not-"

"Thor. I was kidding." Sutton patted him reassuringly on his bicep. "I don't really think that Loki should rule _anything_ on earth."

Steve looked like he wanted to ask her something but felt uncomfortable about it. So Sutton tilted her head in encouragement.

"If that's so," he began slowly, "then why were you wearing him on your shirt? And why did you have so much to do with him on your computer?"

He shot Loki an uneasy glance, as if maybe they shouldn't be discussing this subject in front of the villain. To Loki's credit, he was doing a very good job of pretending to ignore them for the book.

_Seriously though. Did he have to be reading __that__ book? As if he hadn't been creepy enough already._

Two pairs of eyes were suddenly added to the mix and burning into her back from behind the blasted computer. Ah, the question of the century, it seemed. She mimicked Bruce and rubbed wearily at her shoulder.

"Look, first off, I in no way support anything that he did. I think he really could use some counseling. But you also have to understand that it's different here, for us. Until a couple of days ago, you were all just ideas. And there's a disconnect there. We laugh at things that in reality wouldn't be funny; we can have sympathy for villainous characters because we can see where they've come from, but still not root for them to win.

Thor took half a step forward and looked entirely too hopeful for Sutton's comfort level.

"You have hope for my brother, then?"

The muscles in her back stiffened. What was she, a therapist?

"I don't know, Thor," she said carefully. A warning bell in her head was shouting,

_ Danger, danger, danger! _

If she wasn't cautious in her response, Loki would probably gut her where she stood.

"Hurt," her eyes flickered over to Loki's figure. He hadn't moved, but now his violently green eyes were blatantly studying her. She swallowed thickly.

"It doesn't mend easily, or quickly."

_And also I haven't seen Thor 2 yet, so I'm not sure exactly what they're doing with his character._

Thor's mood seemed to dampen and Sutton checked the time. She still had work tomorrow.

"Anyway, does anyone need the bathroom before I go to bed?"

The next day at work, Jen had started shooting weird looks at her by lunch. Sutton was surprised it'd taken her that long. Wild, untamed chunks of hair were sticking out of her messy bun and her makeup was almost nonexistent.

"You ok," Jen asked. "You seem out of it today."

Being the only person in the office that Sutton particularly liked, she felt bad lying to Jen. But she wasn't going to be put in a mental hospital or drag her co-worker into this.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure? Because I'm pretty sure you already sent that email; twice."

Sutton snapped out of her daze a choked back a curse as she exited out of her email screen.

"Dang it!"

As if her boss wasn't already condescending enough, she didn't need to give him ammo.

"What's wrong?"

Sutton pushed her chair away from her desk as she rubbed her temples.

"Nothing. I just didn't get much sleep last night. I kept waking up."  
It was enough to convince her friend because it was partly the truth.

"Maybe it's time you get a new mattress," Jen suggested.

Sutton let out a bitter laugh.

"You have no idea."

But she knew that the mattress hadn't been the issue. She'd slept on worse for longer. Her dreams last night had kept her up, even if she couldn't quite remember them. All she knew was that there had been darkness, a lonely feeling, fear, and then she'd awaken. Again and again and again. She hadn't had a real nightmare since she was a child, and she felt like it wasn't a coincidence that she'd suddenly gotten last night.

Hopefully it was only a one time thing. Payback, maybe, for making _him_ seem so vulnerable. There wasn't much she could do about it even if it became a regular occurrence. It would only cause the others unnecessary distress and distract them from their goal of getting home. Besides, how do you keep someone from getting inside your head? She had a feeling that Harry Potter spells couldn't help her here.

Her computer pinged with a message and her eyes rolled toward the ceiling as she read the snarky reply from her boss.

_'Got it, Sutton. Don't need to send it a third time. I don't think the issue is quite that pressing'_

Sutton couldn't decide if it was worse here or at home.

Home. Home was definitely worse. Sutton could feel her heart do a double backflip, barrel roll, and a cartwheel when she pulled up to her driveway. There was already a car there. Sleek, black, a sedan. It practically screamed,

_Hi, we're a shady unknown branch from the government!_

And there were two figures sitting inside, supposedly waiting for her. Sutton eased out of her own car and slipped her car, house, and mailbox keys between her fingers in a lame imitation of brass knuckles.

If she wasn't placed in a secret underground government prison, she was going to end up in a regular one for sure, because she was going to _kill_ Chase.

The doors of the sedan clicked open smoothly and both figures stepped out. One was a man: casual slacks, button down and blazer, easy smile. His hair was too perfect. Too blond. The second person was a woman: dark hair up, pencil skirt, lowered brows. She stood stiffly, her lips were pressed together a tad too tightly.

Sutton swallowed what little moisture she had in her throat and tried not to squeak as she spoke.

"Excuse me. Can I help you? You-you can't solicit here."

That would make her seem innocent, right? Assume they're vacuum salesmen or evangelists first.

_ If you don't know why they're here, you didn't see anything._

"And I already go to church," she added.

The man grinned too widely at her, teeth too white and straight, and stepped forward to meet her. Sutton took a step back in response.

"Oh, no, no. None of that," he assured her. It wasn't reassuring at all. "My name is Matthew Johnson and this is my partner, Alyssa McKenzie. We'd just like to ask you a few questions about your evening a couple nights ago."

Sutton froze under their gazes. The woman was staring at her too intently. She tried to muster up some righteous anger.

"What is this about," she tried to snap. That hadn't sounded desperate, had it? Had her voice lilted too much? "Who are you people?"

The man held up his hands in a nonthreatening gesture of surrender.

"We're from the Department of Investigations, and we just want to ask you a few questions."

/

**I have a little bit more written after this, so hopefully I'll have the next chapter up soon. Reviews let me know that you're enjoying the story! (As always, let me know if you think I could do better!) (Because I know I can, I'm just lazy).**


	6. Chapter 6

**Ah! I feel all happy inside, even though it's only Wednesday. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! You guys are awesome, and you make me want to write better! Hopefully this chapter doesn't have too many mistakes in it. I went back and fixed a few things in the first couple chapters because I noticed errors and they were really bugging me. **

**I am literally trying to post this before running off to my second job, so have mercy!**

**/**

Sutton narrowed her eyes. _Department of Investigations._ Of what? From where? That had to be the vaguest title she'd ever heard. How dumb did they think she was? The woman finally stepped up and spoke, pulling a badge out of her pocket.

"You aren't in any trouble or danger," she explained showing Sutton her qualifications. "We simply want to conduct a quick interview and we'll be on our way."

The badge, admittedly, looked extremely authentic. Although, she didn't get to study it too closely because the woman claiming to be _Alyssa McKenzie_ quickly tucked it back away.

They didn't seem like they'd be able to be persuaded to leave. The man was still grinning at her too widely for the occasion, and it was starting to freak her out.

"Ok, fine, what?"  
"It might be more comfortable inside," he suggested. But it didn't seem like one. "We'll be out of your hair in no time."

After a brief hesitation, Sutton breathed out her nose and walked slowly to her front door. She had to be loud. Loud-ish. Let the others know that maybe something was up and maybe they could madly scramble out of view. She made sure to fumble with the lock slightly before opening it.

"This thing always jams," she muttered audibly.

Then she held her breath, sent up a prayer, and opened her door. She almost gasped, but managed to contain it.

Her house was pristine. Clean, smelling of day old cleaners, and was empty. Blissfully silent. A smile almost wormed up her face, but she fought to keep it under wraps. Holding open the door, she ushered them in.

"You caught me on a good day," she remarked. "I got some house work done this weekend."

The man smiled indulgently and the woman gave her a close-lipped nod. Sutton did not offer them drinks or hors d'oeuvres. She made sure that they went directly to her couch and did not pass GO or collect two hundred dollars. The living room was the only safe place for them; she could practically feel it.

"So, how can I help you?"

Straight to business. Get them in and out cleanly and quickly.

_Lie, lie, lie._

The woman had a pad of paper and a pen, and she settled it in her lap as the man began speaking.

"The evening in question is the night of March thirtieth," he confirmed. "Specifically, in the region of Puyallup."

Sutton's heart was palpitating and she wiped her palms on her jeans. The woman wrote something on her paper and Sutton stopped.

"Can you confirm that you were in the area around midnight?"  
Sutton pretended to think about it.

_Why hadn't she watched a few episodes of 'Lie To Me' before today?_

"Briefly," she said. "I had to drop off my friend at his house."

_Wrap the lie in some truth, yeah. That's it. That's what Jason Bourne said!_

"Right," the man said. He was still grinning. Did he know how terrifying that was? It was making her feel the opposite of safe. Like he might jump up at any moment and tear her face off. Who'd trained these people?

"Chase Freeman, correct? You drove because he was intoxicated."

Sutton felt herself lean away from the pair slightly.

"Yeah," she drawled.

"And did you see anything _unusual _after you dropped him off at his home?"

Sutton remained quiet for a moment while biting her lip.

"Um, no? There were a few other cars out on the road? One had their brights on. I remember because it blinded me for a second."

The man's smile slipped slightly and that was almost scarier than before. The woman jotted a note.

_Think, think, think. What would be her first assumption if she didn't actually know anything?_

"What's this about," she asked. And then it came to her. "Oh gosh, this isn't about a terrorist attack, is it? Are they going after the Space Needle?"

Because being in Puyallup totally made sense for that scenario. Oh well, let them think her dense.

"No," the man assured again. But his voice was slightly more strained. "Not a terrorist attack. I'm afraid we can't give out details. But I'm going to have to ask that you _really_ think back to that night. If _anything_ comes to you, we need to know about it."

Sutton's heart spiked and she stiffened despite her best efforts. She'd lied! She'd told them _no_, now they were supposed to believe her and leave!

"Miss Regan," he pressed.

"Mr.-" What was his name? Something ordinary. "Johnson, I-"

Her attention was suddenly stolen by a figure emerging from her hallway. The government goons heard the footsteps too and all eyes turned to the man who entered her living room. He was drying off wet hair with a towel and wearing only jeans.

_What the hey-howdy hey?_

He seemed to finally feel the stares, because he looked up and seemed surprised.

"Oh, hey."

Sutton felt her blood run cold once again.

He had green eyes. His face was softer, body a bit more thick, and hair lighter, sure, but she still knew.

The two officials on her couch looked irritated at the interruption, which she could only guess meant irate to them.

Sutton was trying very hard not to stare. Trying so valiantly, so _nobly_, to keep an eye on the shady officials. But it was really, really hard. She didn't even like ogling. It was always a fear that people would think she was checking them out when she was really just trying to see the way fabric crinkled or muscles bunched for drawing references. But not now. Now she was just staring. Because a tiny bead of water had just run down his throat and over his clavicle and she really didn't care what the light looked like bouncing off the water's reflective surface.

Mentally, she slapped her self. Twice.

_No. Stop it! He is not Tom Hiddleston and he is not a piece of meat! You are better than this!_

The man with the towel looked over to her as if perplexed. And my, was his confusion believable.

"Babe," he said. "What's going on?"

And his voice was a bit raspier, she noticed. But it was still like honey. Sutton swallowed.

"Sorry," she said. "I didn't know they were coming over either."

His gaze held so much genuine concern for her that she almost believed it. Almost. Woe was the day when she trusted the Liesmith more than her own government! But that wasn't really saying much.

She stood up and cautiously moved over to his disguised form.

"They keep asking me weird questions. I already told them I don't know anything."

She tried to sound like she was going to him for support. What she wouldn't give for a fourth of his lying capabilities! His eyes narrowed and he turned to _the_ _two_.

"Hey, do you guys have a warrant or probable cause to be harassing her?"

There were no longer falsely friendly smiles on either of their faces. Loki placed an arm loosely around her shoulders and she kept herself from flinching. Just barely. His skin was cool.

_But also very soft._

Wait, nope.

_NOT Tom Hiddleston! Gosh darn it, remember your steps! Step two: don't purposefully seek him out._

"It was simply an inquiry," the woman said tightly.

They got up from her couch when neither Loki or she moved to respond, and they travelled stiffly to her door. Sutton almost smirked in victory at their retreating figures.

"Thank you for your...cooperation, Miss Regan," Johnson intoned, seeming not so genuine. He set a small white card on her entry way door before stepping through. "In case you remember anything," he said.

And then they were gone. Loki's arm was ripped from her person and she looked over nervously only to find him back to his normal self. Fully clothed.

_Thank the lord._

She let out a shaky breath and noticed that everyone was trickling out from down the hall. Wait, not everyone. Someone was missing. Where was Hawkeye?

"You really _are_ a terrible liar," Natasha commented blandly.

"So bad," continued Tony, "that we were forced to send Loki out to save you. And you can imagine how desperate we would have let it get before then."

Sutton felt herself shrink under their gazes, feeling wholly inadequate. If they were so smart, why didn't they just let Loki pretend to be her! Maybe she couldn't lie, but she was obviously the one with the brains here.

"Yeah, well, I tried," she shot back. "I told you all it wouldn't end well."

The image of that man's smiling mask was still haunting her and her eyes darted to Loki. She was tempted to ask if he'd like some hand sanitizer for having to touch her mortal-self by the look on his face. She could be the bigger person here. Figuratively, that is. There was no way she was going to grow another foot after all these years. She'd given up on hope of a growth spurt years ago.

_Be the bigger person. Be nice. Maybe you'll get some sleep tonight. Maybe he'll forget about the little 'potential-whatever' incident._

"Thank you," she said stiltedly. "Even if they told you to do it, I-I, it was appreciated."

Loki sniffed dismissfully and turned his head away.

"You are a worse liar than even Thor."  
_Ok, ouch. _

Well, at least she could say she'd gotten Loki to agree with the Avengers on one thing.

"But I feel like it was unnecessary for you to come out all half naked," she accused.

"Oh, that was just a bit of fun."

_Let it go, don't enable him. Why would she care if two federal thugs thought she lived and slept with a guy without being married? Who cared what they thought? So what._

Her front door suddenly opened and Hawkeye stepped through, replacing his bow across his chest.

"Where were you?"

"Out," he said.

Sutton's eyes flickered to her windows and scanned around her house.

"Were you up in my trees or on the roof or something?"

"I see better from a distance."

Clint smiled at his reference to himself and Sutton rolled her eyes.

"And if those two agents were any good at all, we'll have a problem. I could see you sweating from fifty feet away."

"Ok, ok! I suck at lying, I get it! What I don't get is all this." She gestured to her house in general. "You knew they were coming? You cleaned my house?"

They knew the agents were coming and still didn't pull a temporary body-snatcher type move? Just more proof that they needed her brain skills.

Bruce shrugged and fiddled with his glasses.

"To be fair, we had also made...a bit of a mess too."

"Natasha and Clint were able to intercept their travel plans from their database," explained Steve.  
Tony stood with crossed arms and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. With help from my algorithm and virus."

Steve shot him an irritated look.  
"And here I thought that you had learned that not everything is about you."

"I'm sorry, who is the public demanding more movies from?"

Oh good heavens, no. They could not be using her universe's love and devotion to justify themselves.

"Well," she cut in forcefully, "I'm grateful that you worked as a _team _to get this done."

They all looked knowingly at her attempt to snuff out any conflict.

"Thanks, nanny," Tony quipped.

"No problem, Lite Brite."

His lip twitched up at her rebuttal and Sutton tried not to glow at it.

_Gosh, she'd been waiting so long to use that nickname._

She hoped that they didn't expect that level of wit from her from now on.

And apparently they were now having an impromptu meeting, because they all gathered in her living room in a semi-circle.

Sutton was done with meetings. She was done with today. Her adrenaline spike was wearing off and now she felt even more exhausted than before. Her eyeballs were going to fall off. But she joined them anyway, because she was a team player, dang it, and this was her house, and Loki was watching her slow blinks and grinning like they were the world's best joke.

"Sleep well," he purred in question quietly when she was forced to pass him.

Any faint, tinges of doubt about the source of her nightmare were dashed. Sutton shot him a glare before she could stop herself and tried to recover.

"Like a rock."

It wasn't like she had bags under her eyes or that everyone had just made it painfully clear that she literally couldn't lie to save her life. The only response she got was a self-satisfied smile. Maybe tonight she'd try sleeping in a tinfoil hat. She wasn't even joking with herself.

Her coffee table became the new Avengers conference table and Sutton noticed some files and _something _with wires being set out for all to examine. Her interest was perked, and she attempted to lean forward to focus through the haze forming in her head. It looked like they already had information on whatever organization had sent their people out to talk to her. And it seemed as if Tony and Bruce had come up with some odd, dangerous looking metal...thing. all she knew was that it was crude looking with wires going every which way.

"What is that," she asked, pointing to it.  
Tony wagged a finger at her.

"Ah, ah, ah, small fry. Dinner and _then_ dessert."

She didn't even have the energy to roll her eyes, so she just shifted her dwindling attention to whoever was speaking next. Even though she knew pretty well that it had probably been Natasha and Clint to do the snooping in intel collection, Steve was taking the role as spokesman.

"Clint and Natasha found all they could on this organization," he started.

"All that exists," Clint corrected.

"And that isn't much," Natasha added.

Steve took their interruptions in stride. Definitely a great leader. With a very heroic jaw. Sutton had a nicely angled view of it from her seated position.

"They seem to deal with cases that are highly sensitive or...abnormal."

Sutton fought through the thickening sludge in her head and puckered her brow.

"Are we talking like, Al Qaeda is using a daycare as a front, abnormal or Area 51, abnormal?"

Bruce sputtered a bit and Tony let out one sharp laugh.

_Ah, yeah. That's right. Revel in her comedic genius_.

"Al Qaeda and a daycare? Where are you getting this from?"

"Area 51," Steve questioned.

"Yeah, aliens crashing, not Thor. You might've just missed it," she explained. "So? Are they X-Files, or..."

"Not quite." Natasha leaned forward to join the discussion and take over explanations.

She sure did sit next to Clint a lot. Sutton smiled to herself, her eyes closing a bit.

_Clintasha feels_.

She finally realized she was getting weird looks from around the room and shook her head while gesturing for them to continue.

_Oh gosh, she needed to go to bed. Like, half an hour ago. She was going __to start doing stupid things soon._

_/_

And I'm off! Review please! I have to go to work and they'd make me so much happier when I came home!


	7. Chapter 7

**Ok! It's finally the weekend! An update, yay! Sorry if plot has been a bit slow; I promise that it'll start to pick up in the next couple chapters. I think I finally have a plan forming. I mean, uh, I've always had a great, succulent plot planned. Totally. **

**But really. I just want to thank everyone who's been reading, reviewing, and adding this story to their favorites. It means a lot to me. And really, this story has been a lesson to me that, yes, if you just sit down and put your mind to it, you CAN write something. Even if it's not great yet. Thanks for helping me realize that!**

**[Eternal disclaimer of not owning anything that lasts the rest of this story.]**

**/**

Natasha continued her explanation.

"They deal with unusual national security threats. Ones that haven't ever been experienced or properly identified. I can imagine the energy given off by us being transported here set off their radar."

"So," Sutton dropped her head into her hands and closed her eyes.

_Oh, sweet, sweet, sleep._

"They actually do believe I'm part of some terrorist plot. Great."

"Luckily for you," Tony piped in, "you have the cleanest record here besides Capsicle. Not so much as a parking ticket."

That woke her up a little bit.

"Did you dig through my personal records?"

"Just kind of, like, glanced. Thoroughly."

Some anger managed to lick up some of her exhaustion.

"That's none of your business," she snapped.

"Well, maybe not," Bruce cut in levelly. "But you do kind of have _our _lives plastered, well, _everywhere_."

It wasn't the same! It didn't- it didn't count. They couldn't hold her responsible for knowing things about them when last week it hadn't been considered...prying. There were some things about her that she'd rather keep under wraps if she could. If it wasn't too late already.

"You wrecked my toaster," she whined back. "I had just gotten the settings perfect and everything."

"So we're even," Tony concluded. "And speaking of your late toaster, I present to you, _dessert_."

And with a flourish that rivaled Vanna White, he gestured to his odd little creation and grinned widely. Sutton just stared at it blankly before her eyes floated back up to him.

"What is it?"

What was it indeed. It wasn't even that big, maybe the size of a large apple. And very, very homemade looking. Like, maybe Tony from fourth grade had made this. She could identify different bits of her toaster, some wiring, but other parts had her wondering where'd he'd secured them. She would have to do a thorough inventory of her electronics tomorrow.

"It's progress," Tony declared.

"With my toaster?"

Tony waved her off.

"We needed the heating coils and your house isn't exactly well equipped for genius work."

"What does it do," Sutton reiterated. And it looked like this was the devices first reveal, because everyone who wasn't Tony or Bruce leaned forward in their seat.

"Well, not much right now, admittedly."

"It's kind of...a prototype," Bruce offered. "We think that since there's so much that's identical about our universes, there may be a commonality that we can quantify. If we can do that, then maybe we can isolate the differences and reorder them."

It was quiet. Sutton had no idea what he was talking about. At all. The words swirled around her brain as she tied to grasp the meaning behind them. They had been in English, she was sure. She knew what they all meant by themselves.

_Just...what?_

She either said that out loud or her face spoke for her because Tony jumped in to dumb it down for everyone.

"What the Big Guy is saying, is that we think that maybe we all occupy the same earth, just on different frequencies."

It was quiet a moment longer.

"Like a radio," Steve chimed in.

_Ah, Steve. Adorable little radio missing, Steve._

"More or less," Tony agreed. "And if we can find out our different frequencies, we can realign them correctly."

"And that is what the franken-toaster is for?"

It did not look like a radio wave identifier-thing to Sutton. It looked more like a potentially explosive mini motherboard.  
Bruce smiled lightly at the name and reached down to tweak with one of the wires.

"Actually, assuming our theory is correct, this would be the start of a device that would separate the frequencies and send us back. But it still needs a lot of work."

"A lot."

Tony and Bruce shared a look that spoke of some inside joke, and Sutton let it pass despite hating inside jokes that she wasn't part of.

_Ugh. Speaking of jokes.__  
__Knock, knock.__  
__Who's there?__  
__Guess who everyone expects to cook for them?__  
__Guess wh- Oh._

She still hadn't made dinner. Attempting to lift an arm, she watched as it flopped back down next to her after only making it six inches. Nope. Not happening tonight.

"Well, I'm ordering pizza," she said suddenly. "Does anyone have any allergies and, or preferences?"

Tony answered the door for the pizza guy. In his Ironman suit. Because why not, what could possibly happen, and I'm bored let me mess with someone. It was one of the single most greatest things Sutton had ever witnessed. She was glad she was awake for it. The look on that kid's face when he had come toe-to-toe with the gold and red was priceless. He'd stopped reading over the ridiculous order in monotone and almost choked and dropped the pizza. Sutton had sworn that his eyes would be pushed from their sockets. After the boy had gapped a bit like a mute, hungry bird, he had broke into the hugest grin and proclaimed,

"Dude! You are freaking legit! You just made my whole night!"

"Yeah, I get that a lot."

The kid had laughed at that before telling them the costume was so ridiculously awesome that he didn't even need a tip.

But he still took it, of course.

Sutton had shut the door on him before he could see the others, or start asking questions about how they'd made the suit to look so real.

Everyone was relatively quiet as they ate their fill. Although Thor did loudly announce that he liked this _Midgardian_ _pi-zha_, before grabbing another slice. Thankfully, he didn't cram it into her carpet.

Sutton was not entirely proud of herself. But for once, she was thankful that everyone was ignoring her as she snuck a roll of tin foil in with her to bed. She was desperate, ok? And part of her just really, really wanted to see if it would actually work.

_Sutton Regan: Myth buster._

It wasn't sad. It was for science!

She quickly threw on her pajamas and crudely fashioned a bowl of a hat before shoving it on her head and collapsing onto her air mattress. It felt really good just to have her eyes closed. And to pretend she was alone. And that the government wasn't watching her for acts of terrorism.

But it didn't last long.

Just as she'd fall asleep, for maybe a few minutes, she'd be awoken. The nightmares hit her a bit harder this time, more relentless. There was a bit more to them now; the color red and bursts of intense heat. By two in the morning she'd angrily balled up the tin foil and flung it across the bathroom.

_Myth: busted._

And she did try to just fall back asleep. She tried telling herself to just sleep through the nightmare, as if she had any control over it. But to no avail.

The lack of sleep had her so angry that she had half a mind to go into her roommate's room and punch Loki square in the face. What had she ever done to him! Luckily, she still had half a brain telling her that would be a very poor decision to make. She felt like crying from frustration. But the crying only made her eyes hotter and that much more miserable.

Instead she just sat in the corner of her tub bed, balled up in her blankets and a daze.

By six am, she knew that she wasn't going to work. Jen would definitely know something was up if Sutton just stared uselessly at her monitor all day. So she crawled out of the bathtub, stumbled to the door, and dragged herself over to one of her cordless phones to call in sick.

It spoke of her exhaustion that she only noticed the three figures after she'd already hung up the phone. Tony and Bruce were paused over paperwork staring at her. Tony had a towel draped around his neck as if he were preparing for a shower. Probably for after she left, she realized. Clint was perched on her counter top on the other side of the kitchen. One leg dangled off the edge and swung easily, lightly tapping at the cabinets below.

"Small Fry?"

Sutton rubbed at her eyes and tried to blink widely as if that would wake her up.

"Hey, guys."

Bruce stepped around the counter and approached her. Sutton suddenly remembered that she'd come out here straight from bed. She was still in her pajamas. She was not wearing a bra. Luckily, she hadn't been able to detangle herself from one of the blankets, and she pulled it up over her shoulders and tightened it there. Leaning down to be her height, Bruce examined her eyes and quickly felt her forehead.

"You don't have a fever," he said.

_Was he even that kind of a doctor? What was he, the illness police?_

Sutton stepped back and turned her head to the side.

"Just having a bit of trouble falling asleep," she said gently. "The, um, mattress probably needs more air in it."

The quiet thudding that Clint's leg had been making on her cupboards stopped.

"You have several tells, when you're lying," Clint commented quietly. She felt a shiver down her spine. It was kind of eerie. Him sitting in the dim kitchen, arms casually crossed, ominous voice. "You can't maintain any eye contact, for one."

Sutton made sure to face him.

"I'm not lying. Look at me. I'm not sure what other signs of sleep deprivation I can give!"

"Oh. So, it is the mattress. I'm sorry."

Sutton looked away again. Realization poked at her, and she quickly tried to turn back to him, but he was already smiling grimly.

She just wanted to collapse on the floor, wrapped up like a sad little burrito, and not wake up until tomorrow. Or until she got hungry. She wanted a happy Disney movie marathon with snacks and her best friend from sixth grade, Lorie McDonald, who laughed like the world was always a happy place.

"What are you not telling us, Small Fry? You weren't that attached to your toaster, were you?"

Sutton smiled slightly.

"The death of my favorite toaster will haunt me forever. What are you working on now?"

And she wanted to think maybe Tony was just oblivious and couldn't read her facial cues; but he settled her with a look, tilted his head in a barely recognizable nod, and shuffled the paperwork in front of him. Perhaps he was already suffering from nightmares too. Or maybe he just related to that desperate look of needing to change the subject.

Bruce adjusted to the abrupt flow of the conversation like water, but Sutton could still feel Clint's hard gaze studying her.

It really wasn't a big deal. They didn't need to know. She was just tired. That was it. She'd been tired before.

"Well, we're still working on the math for all this _wonky_ science," Tony said suddenly animated. "Katniss over here just wanted to be part of the slumber party. He was supposed to supply the snacks, but he's claiming Thoreal ate them all."

Sutton rubbed in face in exasperation while Clint's facial expression never changed.

"Ok, how much of this is authentically from you, and how much is from tumblr?"

Tony shifted his head from side to side and made a face that said _'eh, maybe a little bit__'_.

"You guys have got to stop looking yourselves up on the internet. That can't be healthy."

"Too late for that."

"It's definitely...enlightening," Bruce commented.

"The Avengers..._fandom_, has serious mental issues," Clint said dryly.

"Agreed," Sutton sighed. "But all fandoms usually do."

Her legs were like jelly now. She needed to sit down, just for a second. After excusing herself and giving them all a nod, she shuffled back into the living room and dropped herself on one of the couches. It smelled like a guy's aftershave. With her head resting over the top, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Her spine relaxed from the top down, and then she finally fell asleep.

Sutton woke back up around noon. Everyone was awake and about. She flushed immediately upon noticing she was still sprawled across the couch and improperly dressed.

_Oh gosh, she probably slept with her mouth open and drooled and made weird noises and now they knew! _

It felt like when you stay over at a friends house and then wake up to find the entire family making breakfast in the kitchen and then they're condescendingly cooing,

_'Well good morning, sleepy head.'_

While it was still eight o'clock. Because they were obviously the 'Leave It to Beaver' family, and you were the weird kid they let come over.  
Not that that had ever happened to her before or anything.

She scurried from the couch to her empty room for clothes and then a quick shower before anyone could really study her hair that was blatantly trying to defy gravity. And she was showered and ready for the day in only seventeen minutes. Most assuredly a new record for her. Although, to be fair, she'd skipped out shaving her legs for a pair of jeans.

The sleep and the shower combined really did wonders for her; she almost felt like herself pre-Avengers. Except a bit more self conscious. But it was nice to have actual, breathing people in her house. It made her feel social.

And then they had to go and ruin the happy feelings the moment she entered the kitchen for some lunch.

"Was there any particular reason for the tin foil in the bathroom? Just asking, because none of us brought it in with us to shower. Unless Thor was touching up his highlights."

Sutton whipped around to find herself alone in the kitchen with Tony. Where had everyone gone off to? She craned her head around to peer around him and could see a few people in the living room, seemingly deaf to the conversation.

"Not really," she said dismissively. But she could feel the heat rising from her neck to her forehead. There was no way she would ever tell them what the tin foil was for. She'd never live it down.

Tony gave her a look and hopped up to sit on her counter in the most relaxed position possible. What would her roommate do if she told her Tony Stark's butt had graced their counter top? Probably gasp, fan herself, and the lysol it off. If there was one thing that Victoria was, it was clean. Actually, she'd probably get a bigger reaction from telling her that Hawkeye's butt had been on their counter. Victoria always claimed that Jeremy Renner was her 'old man crush'.

"Ah-huh," Tony continued. "What's up, kid? You were just dead on the couch for about five hours. We were making bets on how much we could stack on top of you before you woke up."

"Did they send you in here alone to try and disarm me with your wit and charm, so I'd feel more comfortable and 'fess up to you?"

"Ah-ha! So you do have something to confess. My interrogative charms are obviously irresistible."

Sutton rolled her eyes.

"Why do you all care so much about my sleep habits? You've known me for, like, three days."

Tony shrugged.

"Because we're superheroes. It's our job. And I also really want to know why you snuck tin foil in the bathroom. It strikes me as very '_Signs'-_ish."

He could not know how close to the truth that actually was. Sutton forced herself to laugh.

"I'm afraid you'll have to get used to disappointment."

And she was saved from anything else because her house phone started to ring and she darted to answer it. The number was definitely out of state, and Sutton answered it suddenly cautious of the bill that could be racked up.

"Hello?"

"Sutton! Oh, you're actually home! I was just going to leave a message."

"Called in sick today," she explained. "How's Australia?"

"Fantastic! You would love it!"

Sutton tried very hard not to sound bitter.

"I'm sure I would have."

"Maybe we can come back together some time," Vicki suggested. Even though it was plain that would never happen. "But anyway. I was just calling to see how you were doing. You're not just staying in the house by yourself all the time, right?"

Sutton rolled her eyes. She was not as socially retarded as Vicki liked to think. She had friends and family. She had just been too..._busy_ these last couple days to think about calling them. A thought came to her and she grinned mischievously to herself.

"Nope. Actually," she sauntered into the living room and flopped down next to Clint. Payback time in the form of a fake joke. Well, kind of. It was as close as she'd ever get.

"I'm sitting here with Jeremy Renner, so I'm quite content."

"Get off the computer, dork, and go outside."

"No really, he's sitting on the couch right next to me."

"Ah-huh."

"Want to say hi?"

Clint was shooting her unappreciative glances from next to her. Sutton just grinned innocently at him.

"Sutton, if you actually had Jeremy Renner on your couch you know I would fly back home just to murder you."

She really wanted him to say something on the phone now.

**/**

**Okie-day! Once again, I promise more exciting (exciting?) things will be happening soon. Scout's honor. (P.S. I was never a scout).**

**Like, maybe Sutton makes a dumb mistake and just because the two government agents aren't there doesn't mean she's safe. Or something. I haven't written it yet. **

**Reviews and constructive criticism are very much welcome! I promise I've been practicing being open to helpful suggestions. I will not break. **

**And bless you all for not pinning me with all the continuity errors I've noticed. I'm going to go back and fix them sometime. Because I'm obsessive and it makes me crazy. I'm seriously making a calendar for this story and trying to figure out dates and everything. **

**But anyway, hope you all have a fan-tas-ic day!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello! Sorry for the wait, everyone! Like I mentioned before, I've been busy with work. And I also rewrote this entire chapter for you to try and push the plot along. Still not perfect, but, hey. This story is a learning experience. It turned out longer than I thought, so good news for you, I guess! **

**And, also, just so none of you get the wrong idea. I do not know science. If there is one thing I have in common with Sutton, it's that most of my electronics run off of magic and sheer power of belief. Any science you read in this story will either be from intense google searches or whatever sounds reasonable in my head. You have been warned. **

**Thank you, again, to everyone who has reviewed and added, etc! It really does push me to keep going! So, enjoy and let me know what you think!**

**/**

The phone call had been highly amusing, especially when Clint had actually relented and spoke a few lines to send her friend over the edge. Oh, yes. It had definitely been worth what little risk there was. Vicki wouldn't ever _truly_ believe she had some celebrity in their house. But it was deviously pleasurable to make her wonder.

And then Tony had demanded that he and Bruce accompany her on her errand run, because she obviously couldn't have read a list had he given her one. He was oddly persuasive even without flirting. That, or Sutton was just a big fat pushover. It was really, really hard to say no to superheroes. Especially when he did make the point that she could hardly tell the difference between an Ethernet and HDMI cable.

Sutton shot Tony an irritated look as he directed her where to go using her phone that quite suddenly had GPS that was actually accurate. Suspicious, but she wasn't going to complain. She realized now how people could possibly find him irksome.

_Did he always have to win everything?_

"Turn left here," he directed as they pulled into a shopping center.  
Following his directions, she hit her blinker and pulled into the turn lane. Apparently, her town actually had an electronics hobby shop.

_Huh, you learn something new every day. _

It looked locally owned. Sutton let out a little whimper for her poor debit card. After she parked, Sutton hesitated before exiting the vehicle.  
"Ok, here we go," she said. "You guys do not take off those hats or shades, ok? Tony, no quips or sass. Channel your inner Bruce. And if anyone mentions the goatee, tell them you're saving it for May third."

"That's oddly specific. Something me-centric is happening, I'm guessing."

"Third movie," Bruce guessed.

"Bingo. All right. Let's be quick about this."

They all jumped out of her car at the same time and entered the store, setting off a jingle as a bell tied to the door bounced back and forth. And though it pained her to think it, Tony was right again. Because she did not know what half of the stuff in here was called. Or what it did.

_Oh, wait, no! Look, a screwdriver!_  
_Nailed it._

Tony and Bruce immediately immersed themselves in the job of gathering anything that could possibly be of use.

"I never thought I'd be so happy to see a soldering gun," Tony mumbled. "Do you know how hard it was to use your-"

Sutton snapped her gaze to him, eyes alight.

"You know what, never mind."

Yes. Today she was definitely doing a household inventory. But right now her attention was focused on the other people in the shop; which wasn't many to be honest. The man behind the counter was eyeing them a bit suspiciously. Sutton was going to ask him what his problem was, but then remembered Bruce and Tony were wearing shades and ball caps inside. With hoodies. So she remained quiet.

The longer they stayed, the more anxious she grew. She watched as one guy did a double take, stare, shake his head, and then walk off.

_Too close, too close!_

Not to mention that it looked like Tony and Bruce were buying out half the store. Tony Stark was going to owe her so much money. Was it possible to do inter-universe money wires?

Eventually, both men dropped their purchases on the counter and Tony sighed.

"Well, that'll have to do for now, I guess."

And Sutton was glad that it would, because as they left to fill up her car with their stuff, she was left to foot the bill. She almost passed out. Seriously, she almost didn't let the guy take her card. She hadn't spent that much money at once since, since the last time she'd bought college textbooks! And she wasn't even able to go back to college right now, so what did that tell you?

Bruce and Tony re-entered the shop as if they were all gentlemanly and wanted to escort her out just as the guy had finished handing her the receipt. The man eyeballed Tony as Sutton made her way over to them.

"Hey," he called out.

Sutton's heart froze as they all turned around. The cashier seemed to be studying them closer. She could feel the sweat start to trickle down.

_They were going to have to make a break for it in 3...2..._

"Nice goatee."

Tony grinned widely and spared a glance at Sutton.

"Waiting for May third," he responded obediently.

The cashier considered his words, as if trying to remember the significance and then smiled.

"Oh yeah! Ironman is going to have the crap beat out of him!"

Tony's reply skipped a beat.

"Wait, excuse me?"

"We should get home!"

Sutton had to literally shove both men out the door and to her car. Tony seemed a bit robotic. Drat it! She really didn't want to have to deal with a moody Ironman. As she drove away and back towards home, she tried to make conversation despite the tension in the car.

"So, did you get everything you needed?"

"Well-"

"What the heck was he talking about," Tony cut in sharply. "You hadn't even mentioned another movie coming out."

His voice was so accusatory that it made Sutton tense up and prickle.

"You have internet access eight hours a day without me being able to do anything about it. And it's not like I've been able to stop any of you when you wanted to do anything as it is. It's not my fault you haven't done any research."

"Yeah, well, been kinda busy if you haven't noticed. Were you never going to say anything? You were just going to let us all go back to whatever is waiting for us?"

"I don't know anything else," Sutton snapped. She sighed and gazed out over the road, as if what she was going to admit next would only worsen the situation.

"All I know is what the trailer has shown."

"Apparently that's enough to know I'm going to get the, what was it, crap beat out of me?"

"What did you think another movie would entail," she shot back. "You and Pepper on vacation, walking the boardwalk for two hours? You won't die or anything," she consoled, fairly confident in her claim. "You're Ironman."

Tony threw up his hands as if he was one thousand percent done with her.

"Oh, well isn't that just a big relief. That's what you were talking about with my house, wasn't it? My house gets blown up next!"

The continued argument was put to an abrupt halt by Natasha the second they all stepped through the front door.

"Are you an idiot?"

Sutton paused at the politely toned insult.

"Excuse me?"

Natasha's gaze was ice as she eyed Sutton and the accompanying bags of supplies the trio had carted in.

"You purchased all of this with your bank card."

Sutton's gaze remained perplexed.

"Yeah. There was no way I had the amount in cash that this came to."

The only sign that Sutton could see that indicated Natasha might be fed up with her was a quick quirk of the eyebrow.

"And it didn't occur to you that maybe now your accounts and purchases might be being monitored by the very people you lied to?"

Sutton's face grew cold.

"So 's your house," Clint added. "And you just walked through the front door with a butt load of electronics and two hooded men."

Sutton tried to remind herself to breathe.

Holy crap. She, she was being watched? She'd always kind of known that the government had their fingers in everything and eyes everywhere. She joked about it with people. But it never occurred to her that she might be the focus of that attention. It never occurred to her that it was something to actually worry about.  
The bags dropped from her grip as she swayed slightly where she stood.

"I, I, I-"

Thor had been standing guard near the front door when they entered, and he reached out to support her with his forearm. Sutton clutched at it like it were a steel beam and everything else was made of cotton candy.

"I need to sit down," she finally managed.

Thor, always a gentleman, helped her over to the sofa upon which she collapsed.  
Holy cow. How many times had she watched spy movies or thrillers? How often did she scoff at the stupid negligence of one scrambling character? It was always so obvious.

The news was quietly playing and Sutton stared slightly past the TV and tried to process what her life might be like now.

"Don't worry," said Steve. "We won't let anything happen to you. Not on our account."

"No." Sutton tensed at the honeyed voice drifting from the corner. "Never."

"Loki," Thor warned. "Now is not the time for your games."

There was ice in Loki's eyes for a moment as he shot a menacing glare at his adopted brother, but then he turned back to Sutton and grinned slyly.

"You're right. It's not the time."

Her day was just not getting any better.

The TV continued to murmur and Natasha took back over the reins of the conversation. Tony and Bruce were both a bit hunched, looking like they should have thought of the debit card issue beforehand.

"You have to be careful now," Natasha explained a touch more gently. "There are things you aren't going to be able to do."

"I can hack into their database again," offered Tony. "We can delete the evidence."

Clint looked up from his spot on the couch in front of the computer.

"And let them know she does have help. People with connections? _No_, that won't condemn her at all."

Sutton was still wearily staring at the television. They were droning on and on about someone just being released from the hospital.

_How ordinary._

The Avengers were murmuring around her. Loki was staring at her. The government was at her back. No one even knew about it. All these people were going about there days as if their world hadn't been visited by imaginary characters bent on destroying her carefully constructed life.

The anchorwoman was still yammering about the poor guy from the hospital. A picture flashed on the screen and Sutton was suddenly alert. Leaping from her cushion, she scrambled for the remote and rewound the segment a few minutes back.

"Shut up, shut up, _shut up_!"

The room instantly quieted at her explosion and she cranked up the volume just to be sure what she was seeing and hearing was right.

"In other news, Stan Lee was just released late this afternoon from the hospital after being admitted earlier this morning..."

"Who is Stan Lee?"

"Shut up!"

"A doctor on the inside speculated that it was merely a case of dehydration, but a few staff and family members seem to have concerns."

The screen flashed to a previously recorded interview. It was some woman, a secretary or something. It didn't matter. All that mattered was what she was saying next.

"He's just been off this week," the woman explained. "He seems a bit distracted, unable to focus, and can't seem to work on anything and make progress. He told me once yesterday that he was just out of ideas! Characters won't cooperate or something weird like that. I don't know. I hope it was just dehydration. He seems to be in slightly better spirits now, and I'm just glad he's ok."

The anchorwoman was back and as professionally concerned as ever.

"Stan Lee is, of course, the man behind most of Marvel's most iconic superheroes and has made several cameos in movie adaptaions over the past few years. Most notably, in all the movies leading up to and including last summer's blockbuster hit, The Avengers. The doctor contacted has expressed that Mr. Lee is expected to make a full recovery and be back to work without any concerns. Next, fires in Californ-"

Sutton turned off the TV and sat in silence as her mind buzzed over the information from the news woman. It was just a coincidence. A total coincidence. The man was old! Things happened. Just because it had happened this week, of all weeks, didn't mean a thing.

Sutton rubbed wearily at her face. She could see Steve clenching his jaw and then looking at her through the cracks in her fingers.

"You think this is because we're here," he said.

Sutton sighed, squeezed her temples one more time, and then pulled her head from her hands.

"I'm trying not to," she admitted. "But it seems odd that it just so happened to be this last week. The week when you all show up from nonexistence." She paused a moment as the words sank in. " Maybe not," she corrected. "Maybe he's just getting older. I don't see why he'd have any physical connection to any of this."

Her eyes drifted over the group. They didn't look convinced. Well, at least she wasn't alone in this crazy conspiracy theory. Her lungs froze and then silently heaved at the look Loki was giving this issue. One corner of his lip was twitched up and his eyes, they were too...too relaxed. He was slouched back in the corner chair carelessly like it was his throne, and it made Sutton's nerves spike.

_Was he responsible?_

No, no. He hadn't left the house. Had he? But even if he did. Why go after Stan Lee? It didn't make sense. Sutton shook her head to try to dispel the headache forming. There was too much speculation and not enough facts. It wouldn't do any good to worry herself to death about it. After all, she had her own wellbeing to worry about.

"Still," commented Bruce, "it _is _strange that he's having a medical issue when we're here. It said he was the..._creator_...of, um, Marvel?"

Sutton nodded.

"Yeah. Most of it, I think. You guys have been around for a while. I'm not sure of the specifics on all of you, but you'd all be kind of considered his brain children. Stan created Ironman, for example, during the Cold War. Back when everyone was against military and all that? He wanted to challenge himself to create a character that everyone would hate: arrogant, rich, military funded; and then force everyone to like him. It worked."

Tony's lip quirked up slightly.

"Not completely," Steve commented under his breath and Sutton laughed for a moment.

"Good one, Cap," she complimented. "Though I don't think you were the intended audience."

"Well," sighed Tony, "we don't want to give Papa-venger an aneurism or anything. Doctor?"

And he and Bruce lugged their loot back into her kitchen. Sutton guessed it was now considered the lab. It wasn't much of a kitchen without the toaster anyway.

_How was she going to make lazy grilled cheese now?_

Still feeling wobbly from the realization that she just might be enemy number one, Sutton excused herself and locked herself away in her bathroom for some alone time. Someone had taken the mattress out of the tub for a shower, and she shoved it back in before settling on top of it and shutting the shower curtain. There. She was alone. Isolated. She could think without pressure.

Breathe in through her nose, out through her mouth. Everything would be ok.

Everything was not ok!

Sutton choked back a sob, wary of the noise she'd alert everyone with. She didn't want this! It had been ok before. It was too much responsibility now. Now her life was at stake too! And Stan Lee? If something happened to him, was it partly her fault? Sutton pulled in a shuddering breath and wiped at her eyes. Her legs were tucked underneath her and she pressed herself in the corner of the tub facing the door. There wasn't any place that was safe now.  
Her fist clutched at her shirt as another thought struck her. What about her mother? Would they use her mother to get to her? If anything happened to her mother, or her mother's husband and her half-brother, she'd never forgive herself. She couldn't even warn them! Every time her heart beat, it felt like a stab in her chest.

Sutton blinked and there was suddenly a lean shadow angled against the sink. She let out a quiet yelp and knocked her head on the tile of the tub. Not even her mass of unruly hair cushioned the blow the tile gave her skull. A low chuckle filtered through the shower curtain.

"So easily startled."

Sutton did not want to pull back the curtain. It was some form of a barrier, however false it was, and it gave her some comfort. But she also didn't like the idea of not being able to see the Mischief Maker's movements. And she didn't want him to think she was some weakling to be taken advantage of. With one steadying breath, she ripped back the curtain and moved to stand up in front of him.

No more being intimidated. No more cowing down.

His gaze drifted lazily to her and ran up and down her body. Sutton kept her distance. The bathroom was much smaller than her room, and that was really saying something. It left her little room to back into, and even less to weasel around him. The only way she was going to be able to leave was if he allowed her to.

"Get out, please," she said as calm as she could. She was very conscious of the fact that her eyes probably were a bit bloodshot.

"I don't believe I will," he said dryly.

True terror shot down her spine and she felt her heart skip two beats.

"Have, have you come to, to-"

"Collect? No." Loki shook his head, but he looked positively giddy. "But it is wonderful to know that you will be so compliant when I do."

A promise. There was too much water above her head now. Loki was like a cement anchor pulling her down when she already couldn't swim.

"I will not," she argued. "You won't win. Not when you're the bad guy."

His head snapped to look at her, and Sutton realized that he looked tired. There was some form of renewed confidence behind his eyes, it seemed like, and it made her nervous. But right beneath that was an exhaustion, and she gripped that knowledge.

His face morphed into a false pout, but man, did that lie look believable.

"Not bad," he insisted. "Misunderstood. Isn't that what you thought? That all I need is love and then all my animosity will be washed away?"

His body turned and it was dwarfing hers. He was in her space on purpose. She had no room to breathe or think.

"Stay back," she commanded. "Why are you here? What do you want now?"

Loki waved his arms out, palms upward, in a welcoming gesture that had Sutton leaning back so he wouldn't accidentally come into contact with her.

"Only to reassure you, I'm sure," he purred.

Sutton highly doubted that was so. She told him as much.

"Forgive me," she said, "if I'm a bit reluctant to believe anything you tell me. And unless you've come to tell me you'll knock it off with the dreams, I don't care to hear any lies at the moment"

He hummed in satisfaction at her mention of the dreams, and Sutton regretted bringing it up.

"Ah, yes. Just a bit of an experiment," he confirmed.

"More like petty payback," Sutton retaliated. "And I'm _still_ not feeling reassured."

Loki cocked his head and looked down his nose at her. As if she didn't already feel small enough. He was so close that she had to crane her head back to look him in the face, and she knew it was another one of his tactics. But, dang it, if it wasn't still working.

"I have come to assure you," he continued undeterred, "that I was not involved in the ailment of your beloved, Stan Lee."

Sutton froze a bit under the weight of the statement.

"I never said you were."

Loki smirked.

"You would do well to learn to control the expression of your emotions. You are quite the, what is the phrase, an open book?"

Sutton's face flashed red. Loki tsked.

"My point proven," he remarked.

"And why am I supposed to believe you," Sutton questioned aggressively. "Why even care if I think you're up to something?"

"I am telling you the truth now so that you will believe me when I promise you _this_. If you attempt to warn any of the others about your fate, then I will personally see to the destruction of everyone you hold most dear. I will make you watch as the life slowly drains from their eyes, as they plead for mercy, pitifully call your name to help them. And then, then I will force you to face your fate as intended in the first place. Am I clear?"

Sutton felt her throat seize up even as she swallowed thickly; her eyes darted from Loki to the bathroom door.

"You don't know who or where they are," she tried.

Loki's sharp gaze spoke that he wouldn't tolerate her rebellion.

"Shall I start with Victoria Sung first then? Perhaps work my way up to your co-worker, Jennifer Oswald, and move on to your family. Harold Stringer, his son, Tyrese? Your mother."

Her hands instantly turned to fists and she took a bold half of a step forward.

"How-how do you know about them? I have never spoken about them to any of you!"

Loki's smile was victorious and particularly vicious as he clasped his hands behind his back.

"It is not important," he said. "But I suggest that you behave, and do as I command."

Sutton wanted to argue. The word '_command'_ irked her more than anything else. She was no one's puppet! But she fought it down for the sake of her family.

"Why now," she asked instead. And it stung her to ask it, because it was her relenting to him. It was obedience without the 'yes, sir'. "Why wait till now to threaten me into silence?"

For a moment, she was sure that he wasn't going to answer her. But then he tilted his head back, his eyes sparkling, and he did.

"I did not want the news you received from that prattling box to give you any false hope of rescue."

"With Stan," she asked incredulously. "What does Stan Lee have to do with what you want me for?"

Loki just grinned and began to fade.

"Remember my promise," was all he said. And then he was gone.

The bathroom was again cold and empty. Sutton looked down and realized that she was shaking. Her hands vibrated like an addict going through withdrawals and the tips of her fingers were enflamed in icy tingles. Slowly, she sank down on the bathroom floor and dropped her head in between her knees. And then, she let herself cry.

**/**

**And there we go! Another, _long_, chapter down! And, if anyone is interested, I posted a couple doodles of Sutton on my tumblr. Because I get bored super easily. And they ARE doodles. I'm no amazing computer art-graphic-designer person. I just wish I was.**

**the-average-procrastinator . tumblr . c o m**

**(Just take out the spaces). **

**I digress! R&R! You all are beautiful!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry, sorry, sorry! I know I haven't updated in awhile, and I really have no excuse. I've just been lazy. Forgive me! **

**Anyway, I've been doing some thinking about the plot, and I think I've made some decisions to push it forward. Instead of saving one idea I had for a "sequel", I think I'm just going to fit it in with this one. Otherwise this story would get really boring. Because so much has happened already. I digress. It's not my longest chapter, but I really wanted to put something up. So, enjoy!**

There was a throbbing ringing. It was loud. Sutton blinked, but the world was orbiting too quickly around her. The darkness was finally receding from her vision, but shapes were still blurry. She tried to take in more air. One breath, two. She could feel something solid. The wall?

Shaking her head, she tried to clear the confusion. Other fuzzy shapes were moving around the room.

"Is everyone okay?"

There was a voice coming from what seemed like several layers of atmosphere away and Sutton strove to reach it. A shock of blond hair became visible, and then a blue t-shirt. Sutton focused on him.

"Not at all like your dad, are you," Steve quipped. She could make him out fully now. "Couldn't help but touch those wires together."

Sutton found that she was up against the far wall of her living room. Or, rather, what used to be her living room. She sucked in air as she was finally able to notice the destruction. Her furniture had been violently strewn about, and she had actually just missed being squished by her couch. Everyone else seemed to be alright as well, now that she could actually see. It was no surprise that the ground zero of the explosion looked to be the kitchen. Both Tony and Bruce's faces were a bit blackened with whatever had been produced by the explosion.

_Gosh darn it. It had only been a week, __one week_, _since her melt down and now they were prompting another._

Pushing herself up onto her feet, Sutton made her way over to the people gathering in her once adequate kitchen.

"You okay?"

Sutton looked up to Natasha and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm good. What happened?"

"How many fingers am I holding up," the spy asked instead. Sutton was going to answer 'seven' before she remembered that that wasn't the normal amount of fingers on one hand.

"Five."  
"Did you have to count?"

"I'm _fine,"_ Sutton insisted. "But my house isn't."

She turned her attention to the guilty parties and threw her hands up in exasperation.

"What did you science nerds do to my house? It is a rental! They are _so_ going to keep the security deposit now!"

Tony was sputtering a bit, raking his tongue along the outside of his teeth and muttering something about tasting fruit punch; Bruce was blinking at the destruction as if it had seeped up from the kitchen surfaces it coated and greeted him.

"Idiots," Loki muttered from somewhere behind her. Sutton actually agreed for once, but wasn't about to voice that aloud. Vicki was going to murder her.

"Just a small mechanical error," Tony explained. "It's good to work the bugs out early on."

The wall separating the kitchen from the living room was partly crumbled and blackened; Sutton ran a hand along it morosely. With a sigh, she turned back to the group and told herself to keep calm. Channel her inner Bruce, as it were. The nice Bruce side.

"Yeah, well when I let you-Ahh!"

Her attention was suddenly stolen by the ragged hole leading to her back yard. Glass littered the floor and the cheap blinds that their landlord would never replace where scattered about outside.

"You broke my sliding glass door! There is a hole in my house!"

"On the up side, no one was seriously hurt."

Her fiery gaze turned back to Tony.

"Not yet," she seethed. "Do you know how much those cost? Tony Stark, you _better_ hope that there _is_ such thing as inter-dimensional wire transfers, because you _owe_ me."

Thor stepped up to join the group looking the most undisturbed out of the bunch. The explosion was probably the equivalent of a chest bump for the Asgardians.

"What about the device," he questioned. "Was it destroyed in the blast?"

Bruce held up a piece of _something_. The group winced and Clint ran a hand over his face as he passed by the group.

"Well, not like it can get much worse."

Sutton made sputtering noises and mimed choking motions with her hands in his direction.

"NEVER SAY THAT. What is wrong with you?"

"Chill out," Tony admonished. It did nothing to quell Sutton's rising anxiety. "We'll fix everything. You should be more worried about the fact that now we're out of supplies and still stuck here."

Bruce sighed and scratched at his head while thinking.

"We need," he paused and glanced at Sutton as if he were about to be offensive. "We need better tech."

"Agreed."

Sutton calmed down through sheer force of will, determined to not be the childish one in the bunch again. It was possible for her to handle disaster with a calm and reasonable attitude. Accidents happened, right? She breathed in and out again, and pulled her hand away from the charred wall. This was about the Avengers, and Loki. They wanted to go home. They had people that were probably worrying out of their minds about them.

"Ok," she finally said. "But I can't really help you there. It's not like we can just pull up to NASA and ask to borrow some equipment."

"Which is why we wouldn't ask permission."

Natasha stood with legs shoulder width apart and arms crossed over her chest.

_How did her hair still look so nice?_

Tony grinned widely and threw his fist up quickly in excitement.

"Sounds like a road trip, ladies."

"Are we all not going on the journey to the NASA?"

Steve held up a hand for them to slow down.

"Wait, wait, wait. The people who sent us to the moon? We're going to need an actual plan of attack for this. A couple of lab coats and fake badges just aren't going to cut it."

"Neither will the Iron Man suit," contributed Sutton. "You step in there in that and you'll be covered in techies trying to disassemble it to find out how it works."

"Whatever plan we go with," Clint spoke up, "we better enact it soon." Sutton looked up to find him lounging on top one of her couches, his back against the wall. He was twiddling with his arrows, she assumed to make sure the little babies weren't harmed.

"You just caused a decent sized explosion in a house being monitored for signs of terrorism. I can't imagine it'll take them long to get here."

Sutton's eyes flared widely before she hastily plastered on a strained grin.

"Ok, either face prison time or break into NASA. What are we waiting for? Go pack, oh wait, you don't _have _anything to bring. Perfect, let's be off!"

Already breathless, Sutton scurried down her hall in order to throw some clothes in a duffel bag. She was _not _going to prison! She would never survive! There really _hadn't _even been so much as a parking ticket on her record before now. It just wasn't fair!

Sutton felt as if someone had just given her three shots of espresso straight to her bloodstream as she shakily groped for her clothes. All she could see were jail cells and dark rooms, and a few faceless men in sharp suits. She was not a main character, she did not have any remarkable qualities. She was expendable, and this was real life. Acknowledging that made her shiver. She hadn't ever felt this vulnerable in her life. Well, actually, that wasn't quite true. When she had discovered the horrid truth her mom had hidden about Sutton's birth father...

_But now wasn't the time for that._

After snatching up a few more necessities, Sutton bolted back out of her room and into the fray. Everyone was moving, Sutton hadn't seen such purpose and deliberate movement from all of them at once since they'd gotten to her world. She felt her stomach drop and then rise back up. Standing quietly at the end of the end of the hallway, Sutton watched them in their choreographed hustling.

"You okay?" Bruce had shuffled up and paused next to her, peering at her over his glasses.

_No, not at all. Not for awhile._

"I'm coming too, right," she asked instead. "You guys aren't going to leave me behind to-to..."

"To be arrested by the Secret Service?"

Sutton swallowed and flushed.

"Yeah, that."

"What kind of..._super_ heroes would we be if we did that?"

Sutton just shrugged lamely and scratched at her elbow.

"Kid!"

That caused her to shoot a glare at the offender.

"Bird Man," she shot back. Clint's lips tugged upwards marginally.

"You ready to fly?"

That earned him an eye roll, and she ran a hand through her hair to soothe herself.

"Yeah," she sighed. "But they aren't. How far do you think we'll get while they're wearing leather armer and capes?"

Natasha leaned back on her right foot and gave both the aliens a once over.

"She's right. They draw enough attention to themselves as it is."

It didn't take long for them to get Thor and Loki changed to "blend in". If you could call Loki in black slacks and a dark emerald button down _blending in_. It was honestly distracting before she remembered that the guy was literally promising to enslave her for his own evil purposes. And as if being stuck in a car with all of them, out for a road trip to break into some NASA facility, wasn't bad enough, they went as far as to take her keys. Because Clint apparently was the driver for any plane, boat, or golf cart, which made Natasha navigator. Sutton found herself in the third row seat squished next to Thor who was the only barrier between her and Loki.

It was going to be a marvelous trip. She could just feel it.

To top it off, they weren't actually going to a NASA facility. Not that Sutton was especially keen on breaking in to any laboratory, but, come on! NASA! That would have been so cool. Tony explained that they were heading towards a closer, completely adequate, lab in Berkeley, California. It might not have been as far as the station in Ohio, but they'd still be in very tight quarters for at least eleven hours. Sutton's leg was pretty well pressed up against Thor's. Then again...

There was no doubt that this trumped Sutton's list of 'Top Ten Most Awkward Road-trips'. And they weren't even a half an hour into it yet. And she thought that the summer trip to Florida her freshman year had been bad. In the stress and chaos of packing, she'd totally neglected some essentials. Like a coloring book or crossword puzzle. Sutton suddenly let out a horrified gasp.

"Oh no!"  
Thor's head snapped in her direction as he scanned the small space between them.

"What is it, Lady Sutton?"

"My books. I left my books! All of them. What if I can never go home? And crap, my job!"

Sutton could hear Tony let out a garbled groan from the row in front of her. Steve shot back a look that she couldn't distinguish between slight sympathy or agitation. Thor did not look like he knew how to respond to her distress. He opened his mouth and then closed it before patting her awkwardly on the shoulder.

"I am sure all will be well," he said. "Did you know that my brother also greatly enjoys reading? He has a vast collection back on Asgard."

"Yeah, I know," Sutton responded absently. Giving a start, she turned back to Thor and tried to retract. "I mean, I didn't _know_. It, it's more like a commonly held belief."

The car quieted again and Sutton squirmed in the stillness. Gosh, this was terrible. She always killed a conversation. Was it her turn to start one now? The only noise was the quiet murmurs from some top forty station playing. She had to say _something_. People were waiting for it, she knew it. She was so rude.

"You know what I don't know," she spat out before she could think. She craned herself slightly to peer around Thor at his brooding sibling. "Are your magic duplicates tangible, or not? Because it looked like one knocked over some rocks on Jotunheim, but that could have been an illusion too. And it never really pushed the button on the Helicarrier."

Loki lazily brought his gaze from out the window to face her. He was piercing her with that judgmental look again before he gave her an easy grin.

"What do you _believe?_"

Sutton frowned, her brows meeting and lips pulling up to one side.

"I don't know," she said. "A lot of people think that they can be solid, if you want them to be."

It seemed as if Loki's attention suddenly sharpened and focused on her. Sutton shifted in her seat and tried not to worry about how her leg rubbed up against her neighbor's.

"But what do _you _believe, _Sutton_?"

"_I_ believe that I wish we had that muzzle," Steve muttered.

Sutton rolled her eyes, but gave the question some thought. Loki was a gifted magician; it wouldn't be too difficult to imagine him able to make copies of himself. And even though the film had never shown a duplicate really interacting with any objects, that didn't mean they couldn't. Those rocks had fallen over the cliff, and there hadn't been anything to hint at it being part of the illusion. She carefully worded her answer in her head before spilling it.

"I think that they can be."

She would pay him no other compliment. This whole conversation was a mistake in the first place. Loki's gaze was on her a bit longer before he broke out into a grin.

"You would be correct."

That drew in everyone's curiosity a bit. Even Thor gave his brother a glance that spoke he might have not been privy to that information either. The answer made her uncomfortable and she looked back out the window. Okay, no more starting conversations for her.

Sutton resolved herself to watching the white line that sped next to her car's wheels for the rest of the trip. Eleven hours. Not long, right? She wondered how irritating would they find it if she asked them when the next rest stop was?

**Ok, there it is. Sorry if there's any mistakes. And again, if you're still following this story, thanks for not giving up! I'm not able to do NANOWRIMO this year because of work, so I am going to work on this story instead! Good news if you like this story, eh? I'll try to make sure that the next update isn't spaced out quite so far. **

**If you want to leave a review, that's just lovely and so good of you. Thank you!**


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